President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Prof. Benjamin Okaba, has accused successive governments of neglecting the Niger Delta despite the region contributing over 75 percent of Nigeria’s oil wealth.
Delivering a lecture at the 10th Anniversary of GbaramatuVoice in Abuja on Wednesday, Okaba described the situation as an “ecological genocide,” lamenting that most Niger Delta communities still live in shanties and survive on less than $2 a day.
He noted that Nigeria had earned more than $1 trillion in oil revenue between 1960 and 2024, yet the region remains devastated by environmental degradation. “Our freshwater, swamps, and mangrove forests have been mutilated by multinationals. Our rivers, once pure, now carry the toxic signature of extraction without restoration,” he said.
Okaba faulted the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), calling the 3 percent allocation to host communities an “insult,” and argued that no community has accessed the trust funds due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. He also warned that international oil companies’ divestments were worsening poverty by transferring assets to politically connected individuals “who cannot distinguish between palm wine and oil.”
He further accused security agencies of colluding in oil theft, estimating annual losses at $27 billion. “The Niger Delta has been the goose that laid the golden egg, only to be sacrificed at every fiscal cycle. This must end,” he declared.
Other speakers, including the Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom, King Obukohwo Monday Arthur Whiskey, and Bayelsa monarch King Bubaraye Dakolo, echoed the call for equity and development.
Publisher of GbaramatuVoice, Jacob Abai, pledged that the platform would continue amplifying Niger Delta voices while expanding into media training.
