‘Systemic failure, cause of MEND’s renewed attacks’

[Punch]

Political scientists have warned that the threats by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger/Delta to resume hostility in the South-South region would have a damaging impact on Nigeria's economy. They blamed the renewed attacks by the ex-militants on systemic failure.

An online news agency, Sahara Reporters, had reported on Saturday that MEND threatened to embark on a sustained assault on oil facilities and also those of the South African telecommunications giant, MTN, for the incarceration of its leader, Henry Okah, in a statement by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo.

Speaking to SUNDAY PUNCH in an interview, a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja, Saleh Dauda, said the challenge with the Federal Government's post-amnesty programme was the failure of the government to take it to the grass roots.

He said, "What is wrong on the Niger/Delta is the inability of the governments – federal, state and local – to take the programme to the grass roots. The resources accruable to the zone are not used to take care of the challenges facing the people.

"Once the people are not satisfied or when development has eluded them, there will always be crisis. Once there is crisis in the region, it will affect the economy and will, subsequently affect the entire country."

The professor however cautioned the people in the region over their agitation, saying that no government was capable of meeting all their demands, adding that the Federal Government had shown interest in their plights by creating a ministry and an agency to cater for them.

He also said, "Unfortunately, the amnesty programme was not legislated upon by the National Assembly, which means anybody can come into power to scrap it. It also means that militants will always rise up again to make demands. This is a failure of the government."

In his reaction to the renewed hostility, another professor in the Department of Social and Political Science, University of Lagos, Solomon Akinboye, said there was no reason for renewed attacks, once the government had accepted to assist them.

According to him, "The government should heed to their demands. However, to satisfy all their demands is tantamount to pampering them. They should not count it as their right. The government should just have a forum with them and try to satisfy them."



The Punch