by Uche Nworah

Created on: February 10, 2007   Last Updated: February 26, 2009

Despite the army of million dollar salary earning crises managers and PR executives in the employment of the oil companies operating in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, It is still baffling that the oil companies did not see the current crises coming. If they did, it is either they underestimated the power and might of the Ijaws in being able to take their destiny into their own hands, or the shylock executives of Shell, Chevron, Agip, ExxonMobil and the rest of the greedy foreign oil exploration companies operating in the region have also been heeding the counsel of false oracles.

Now the conflict is threatening to spill out of proportions just like the oil and flames spewing forth from the many burst oil pipelines and wells scattered around the Niger Delta region. The story and plight of the Ijaws as well as the other indigenes of Nigeria's oil producing communities is not new to the world, but the world seemed to have taken only a scathing and perfunctory notice when Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight members of his Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) paid the ultimate price in 1995.
Perhaps Saro-Wiwa's struggles and death should have been a wake-up call for all who have been milking the cow to death, and feasting alongside the vultures in the region of death but avarice appeared to have taken the upper hand. The judgements of the Nigerian governments starting from the federal and state governments to the local governments were beclouded, they refused to listen.
Of serious concern is the way the Nigerian government have gone about managing the crises, there has been an almost befuddling passivity on its part with regards to the Niger Delta crises. To think that the government has not yet considered a constructive Marshal Plan to resolving the crises which is threatening Nigeria's chief source of revenue, and which could potentially undermine the current socio-economic reforms in place makes one to wonder what the members of the federal executive council discuss at their weekly meetings. While flagging off the election campaign for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt recently, President Obasanjo admitted the neglect of the region by successive governments, according to him "Let us say the truth; there had been neglect of this region in the past. Neglect at the community, local, State and Federal levels. There have been neglect at the oil company levels, don't let us deceive ourselves". To the disappointment of his listeners,

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