At the interview today with Celebrity journalist, Rufai Oseni, I was asked about the new oil field discovered in the North- the kolmani oil field. Rufai asked if Buhari should be given credits for that.
At the interview today with Celebrity journalist, Rufai Oseni, I was asked about the new oil field discovered in the North- the kolmani oil field. Rufai asked if Buhari should be given credits for that.
I agreed that this happened during Buhari's regime and it’s a wealth creation avenue that’s been discovered but there are issues that must be considered holistically before any applause. There are standards. There are rules that must not be crossed. We are eco-socialists in the African Action Congress (AAC). Justice for everyone, everything, including the earth we walk on, is what we stand for.
I made very quick mention of the practices of the “seven sisters” who are in the business of messing up, not just our lands but also the minds of our people. They are the real explorers not Buhari or even Nigeria.
If their usual evil practice is what would continue in Kolmani, it’s just a matter of time before the oil discovered in the North becomes a curse. So there’s no need praising Buhari for “discovering” oil.
The earth is ours to explore, we agree but there are red lines. The lives and livelihood of our people are paramount to us in the AAC.
This is very much paramount as there is also the course of the Waiting Wolves. They are greed cannibals who live on cornering people's commonwealth into private purses. In the Niger Delta, they turned oil to blood. And on the altar of sucking human economic bloods; destroying all other wings of livelihood, while setting the oil money on the plate of violence; our national rogues are never found wanting in their proud peak of vampires.
If Kolmani will not be a curse, what about the old curses in the North that is now imbued in terrorism? Those who cannot defend the gains of the past, the old sage noted, cannot defend the new victories. Let our Northern comrades know that Kolmani is not the answer. Same is dependent on whether it's the people that are truly in charge of the wealth of Kolmani. Once it goes to the same ruinous oligarchs and their greed mongerers, Kolmani is in trouble of the old curses.
Any mineral resources that would kill our people, cause massive environmental pollution, cause more deaths than what crude oil has caused us since 1957, make our people lose their livelihood, create instability in the ecosystem, create future geological problems, cause coups and despite all these pain, NNPC will still make zero remittances to the federal account, such mineral resources had better stay under the ground.
Ogoni has oil, but the people paid with their blood. Zamfara has gold, and ISWAP is now everywhere. Benue has great agriculture, but the farmers are in fear over terror herdsmen attackers. We need a good government to redistribute the wealth. Wealth creation is not the problem. Nigerians have no reason to be hungry nor be in hardship.
We as a people must first resolve the leadership question before arming the failed rulers with another trillions of dollars. Today, majority in the NIger Delta are poor. So, what's the gain of the oil exploration, destroying lands, lives, and peace? Such oil should remain underground until the Talakawas truly take charge like in the old good days of Balarabe Musa and such other Northern developmentalists. That’s our position.
Mr Rufai was also keen on hearing figures (money) that we’ve allocated to different sectors of the society. I want to state that policy documents are what they are. They are not equal to appropriation bills. We throw figures around in this part of the world without proper planning.
How do you budget without planning? If 100 billion was given to education in a budget, how did government arrive at that figure? How many students and teachers did they plan for? Especially in a country where data integrity is a big issue, where there are ghost workers almost everywhere, and where census has not held in over 15 years. The AAC has come for a rescue operation.
*Femi Adeyeye, a sage and soldier of conscience, is the National Publicity Secretary of the African Action Congress (AAC)