Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Chapter X: The Politics of Interventionist Policies and the Niger Delta Crisis
in Nigeria: Impacts and Challenges
remedy the crisis in the Niger Delta. Although, the creation of
Bayelsa State along side Ekiti, Abia and three other states in the
Northern part of Nigeria was perceived to mean an antidote to the
Niger Delta problem, the execution of Ogoni born Environmentalist,
Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others in November 1995, proved a major
setback in the Abacha campaign to address the Niger Delta problem.
One of the latest in the series of attempts by government to
address the injustice in the Niger Delta is the establishment of the
Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The establishment of
the commission was consumated by the enactment of the NDDC Act
of 1992. The activities of the Commission which has been under a
critical appraisal, has revealed the perfunctory approach and noncommittal
attitude of government towards addressing the problem of
the Niger Delta Region.
For example, the refusal of president Obasanjo to assent to the NDDC
Bill until it was vetoed by the National Assembly, the suit by the
Federal Government against the 36 states and the consequent
judgement of the Supreme Court on Resource Control elicited a lot of
misgivings as to how genuinely committed the federal government is
to the development of the Niger Delta Region. This misgiving is
reinforced by the fact that the master plan for the region was
submitted to the federal government barely tow months to the end of
Obasanjo administration (Ajakaye, 2007:1-2), six years after the
enactment of the NDDC Act.
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