NIGERIA’S BONNY LIGHT; A BENCHMARK IN DISTRESS

By Eben Dokubo

The current travails of Bonny where armed gangs strike terror into the marrows
of citizens bring to the fore, the painful plight of the people of Nigeria’s Niger
Delta region, a confluence of affluence and despair. Residents of Bonny are
fleeing from their homes and many have perished during the perilous journey
out of the islands. Radio announcements by the Police, Local Government, and
Rivers State Government officials have not stemmed the tide of exodus. Bonny
is a case-study in failed appeasement, divide and rule, trickle down policy, and
myopic strategic planning.

Blessed with a rich culture going back many centuries the people of Bonny are
endowed in more ways than one. Thanks to early contact and commercial
interaction with the Europeans, the people of Bonny, like their Okrika, Kalabari
and Nembe kinsfolk were trailblazers in education with which came civilization
that spread to other parts of Southern Nigeria and the Middle Belt. Together
with Akassa, Brass, and Abonnema, Bonny was a gateway to prosperity in the
pre-colonial and colonial era. It was through Bonny that seedlings of cocoa
were introduced into Nigeria which went on to become the world’s largest
producer. However, it is for the high quality crude oil, very easy to refine
because of its low sulphur content christened Bonny Light which is the
benchmark for global crude oil prices that Bonny is now world famous.

So strategic is Bonny to Nigeria’s stability that when during the civil war,
heroes like Alani Akinriade and Isaac Adaka Boro fighting on the Federal side
risked their lives to liberate Bonny Island, the victory marked the beginning of
the end of the Biafran resistance. A young university lecturer named Ken
Sarowiwa was appointed as the Sole Administrator of the island. The shiploads
of relief materials, cash and other resources were distributed equitably to all
those in need. Nothing was diverted to enrich himself or his cronies. No cash
was embezzled and used to buy up the people’s common heritage. The
rehabilitation was quick and total. People lived without fear. They went about
fending for themselves in the creeks and elsewhere unhindered. Decades later,
Nigeria rewarded Sarowiwa, not with a National Honour, but with a noose.

To the regret of all, today, Bonny is again a war front. The sight of fully kitted
soldiers with fear on their faces, instilling fear on the faces of those they came
to protect is disheartening. They are unable to stop the guerrilla-warfare kind of
attacks on randomly selected targets, soldiers today, traditional rulers tomorrow;
banks today, innocent civilians tomorrow. The sudden collapse of security is
incomprehensible. The income stream that flows through Bonny ‘Upstream’ to
the Netherlands, home of Shell, all of Europe, and the United States of America
and the pockets of a handful of privileged Nigerians is steady. Vessels fully
laden with sweet crude and others filled with liquefied natural gas set sail
without let or hindrance. “Downstream” the story is different. Open fibreglass
boats with rickety wooden benches and outboard engines convey indigenes and
itinerant workers from Bonny to Port Harcourt the economic hub of Rivers
State. In their bid to escape the sporadic machine gun fire that is now
commonplace on the island, they set sail with trepidation and are often
ambushed, waylaid, attacked mid-sea, robbed, brutalized and raped

The economic disequilibrium brought about by the massive oil and gas related
investment in Bonny is the sole source of this breakdown in law and order.
Should the export of crude oil and liquefied natural gas from Bonny be halted
today the people will have little or nothing to lose. They neither have equity
participation nor symbolic profit sharing from the huge investments. All they
receive are a trickle down pittance which invariably pitches brother against
brother, family against family and clan against clan. Even with a major oil
export terminal and a seven-train Natural Gas liquefaction plant, unemployment
is extremely high, cost of living astronomical, and HIV/AIDS in pandemic
proportions.

It is not asking too much for the Federal Government to declare Bonny a
disaster area. The peculiar problems of Bonny must be tackled head-on. Labour-
intensive enterprises must be initiated. The natural beach which is a giant tourist
attraction must be made accessible to the indigenes. The policy of appeasing
only some traditional rulers, party stalwarts, government officials, and
vociferous armed groups must be reviewed. Unless a sense of belonging is
created and reinforced in concrete terms, the majority of the citizens will remain
alienated and continue to sulk because there is nothing in it for them. For
example, when the Federal Government forked out millions of dollars to dredge
the Bonny channel to enable large vessels come in with ease to lift oil, there was
nothing in the contract for the “Locals”. Such multi billion naira contracts ought
to be tied to concurrent local development. For instance, the sand from the
dredging should have been used to reclaim land around the various islands. That
way we end up with a win-win situation.
Down the Atlantic coastline is Brass Island, Bayelsa State, a mirror image of
Bonny. Like Bonny, Brass is a major oil export terminal (albeit offshore) with
little to show for it. It has for decades hosted Nigeria Agip Oil Company just as
Bonny has hosted Shell. It is now the site for the Brass LNG just like the
Nigerian LNG in Bonny. The time to prevent all the shortcomings that have
made Bonny a benchmark of discontent and despair from being repeated in
Brass is now. The people can be integrated into the project so that they have, not
just bragging rights as the host community but something concrete to show for
it. The foreshores of the island which have been washed away by the sea should
be reclaimed. The beaches should remain open and be used to provide jobs
through tourism. Safe and convenient ferry boats should be provided to link
Nembe, Akassa, Yenagoa and Port Harcourt. Above all, labour-intensive
enterprises must be nurtured to provide jobs for those who are not absorbed by
the oil export terminal and the Brass LNG project. The people should have
equity participation in whatever form to cement their bonding with the project.
The Chiefs and elite should sink their differences and avoid being played
against one another. The communities must ab initio support the project
wholeheartedly so as to ensure a peaceful and conducive atmosphere which in
turn will be rewarded with genuine all-round development.

What is playing out in Bonny today is that the disgruntled, alienated, skilled,
unskilled, and impoverished bystanders far outnumber the beneficiaries of the
oil export terminal and the Liquefied Natural Gas plants. The billions of naira in
investment and even more billions in income from the LNG project, created
expectations of dizzying proportions in minds of the people of Bonny. Nigeria
has everything to lose if civil unrest forces Bonny to go under. But for a handful
of lucky Chiefs, contractors, employees and others, the majority of Bonny
indigenes have nothing to lose. It shouldn’t be so. Labour-intensive enterprises,
safe ferry boats and a peaceful environment must be established in Bonny
immediately. The government is lucky to have the opportunity to learn from the
Bonny debacle and discard the trickle down theory in Brass and other high
profile investment areas.

Eben Dokubo wrote from Port Harcourt

ebendokubo@yahoo.com