Only recently, the 36 State governors of Nigeria took their ritual monthly trip to Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory. The purpose of the trip was to collect their States' allocations which are meant for developing the various States, in the governors' influence of operation. These monies are on the contrary not meant to feather private nests. There are Farida-like consequences for so doing, take heed; it is the peoples' money. Nigeria's State Governors have been on this route since the creation of States in 1967. Or can anyone recall when development funds for both the Federal and the State governments were sourced differently and shared?

Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, the current governor of Niger State was among the governors who collected the month of July cheques made up mostly from oil sales from the Federal Ministry of Finance on behalf of his state. The governor has a PH.D in Strategy and Political Economy. Acquiring a doctorate degree by dint of study is a feat not to be trifled with. Many who started the race had gone off the floor before reaching the end of the rope.

A doctorate degree requires discipline, hard work, privation and focus to get to the finishing line. All these qualities however, do not translate into a confident ability to harness resources both human and material towards a sustainable development goal. Though desirable a Ph.D degree in essence, is not a constitutional prerequisite for becoming a governor of a state. May be in Ondo State, as an unwritten law. However, a doctorate degree enhances the holder's profile, as a member of the intelligentsia, one who can point the torchlight to distinguish between economic development from economic growth. This is the 'economy' part of the assignment.

The holder, can chew on and assimilate, the need for a constitutional review to reflect the true federal character of Nigeria as espoused by the founding fathers and if he is sincere and unbiased, to communicate same fairly effortlessly to those he was elected to govern and beyond. When Nigeria started, it started with true Federalism. Na lie? And now that we are at an incantatory dingdong, the holder will have no difficulty whatsoever in explaining the meaning of the rule of law as the foundation for equity and justice. The governor at bar, Dr Aliyu, is capable of carrying out all of these tasks within the realm of political economy and more. So much for the compliment.

Dr Aliyu's road to Damascus Moment came earlier at gathering of the 19 Northern States' governors, at an occasion labeled the First Northern Agriculture Summit held in Kaduna. The governor made some startling revelations at the Summit, in these words:

"As a Nigerian of Northern extraction, I feel unhappy when somebody describes me as a parasite because of oil, when I know that I have the capacity to solve my problems and probably do even better through agriculture and education."

I have not seen so many rattlesnakes in one sentence.

Gov Aliyu's unhappiness was not misplaced because to start with the adjective and noun 'parasite' is not only an unpalatable word to pronounce. It is also one of the ugliest words in the English language. Good reason why the word parasite should be completely eradicated in Nigeria's political-economy lexicon. I am of the strong view that the governor's outburst must have sent most Deltans whooping with delight and applause in the creeks and on land on the day that it was made. Fact, no bias here. And, I will tell you why.

The peoples of the Delta live off the rivers, seas and the Atlantic Ocean. The peoples of the Delta also live off the land. They and their ancestors have been farmers and fishermen for centuries and over generations they have mastered their environment against all elements, coped exceedingly well with the harshness of the seas, rivers and the ocean. They are adept at the tedious and painstaking craft of making fishing nets to fish, set up fishing settlements or ports in the creeks and seashores as sole traders or in partnership enterprises trading in fresh and smoked fish and other sea foods. They also fell trees found in the mangroves of various sizes for the purpose of canoe and paddle carving in readiness for their only mode of transportation.

Thanks to the paradoxical in Nigerian politics, the peoples of the coastal areas of the Delta from whence Nigeria's huge oil fortunes are derived have neither roads nor bridges nor petrol filling stations nor cars. No modern cities. Only walking paths. You do not need petrol to walk with your legs but food and good health under an equally healthy environment. Their source of fuel comes from firewood, from the mangrove twigs and felled trees and not the oil or gas abundant in their land. The proceeds and royalties from the oil and gas so drilled are carted away daily in million- barrel loads and trains to the Federal Government in Abuja in accordance with some laid down intoxicating Decrees and Laws affecting Land Use and Petroleum in total contrast to what obtains in international practice.

Bismarck, famously commented that laws are hard to swallow if one knows how they are made. Why such unjust and inequitable laws are made in Nigeria has become harder still to swallow by the Niger Delta people and by the day!

Since the discovery of oil in 1958, serious infractions on onshore drilling and exploration has gone on unabated on a daily basis in the Niger Delta. The oil companies are known to spill oil in a negligent and reckless manner and without cleaning it up. They frequently drive heavy machinery outside the allowed routes destroying farmlands. Crude oil is excessively dangerous to the fauna and flora. It kills off any thing it comes in contact with, in streams, rivers and seas. It leaves a sheen on the surface of the water but every living creature or thing underneath has had its life snuffed out, with the snap of a finger. Just like that.

A constant and flagrant disregard for regulations on the part of oilfield workers and a lack of monitoring by oil companies have been a bone of contention and squabble among the Department of Petroleum Resources, the Ministry of Environment, Oil companies operating under obnoxious and repugnant Petroleum Laws and farmers and fishermen in the Delta region. The bickering over whose responsibility it is to mop up the mess each time a spill occurred had damaged the reputation of the oil companies operating in the region and built passionate distrust between them and the host communities. Negligence, claims the host communities, no it's vandalism say the oil companies. And the beat goes on and on spanning years in litigation!

In the Niger Delta area, vast expanses of arable land are routinely carved up and cordoned off by the oil companies with signs saying, Danger! DO Not FARM! And such cautionary signs and injunctions to ward off the owners of the land with the result that land owners themselves have been turned to suspicious trespassers. What you would ask is left for the farmers whose environment has been despoiled and their traditional means of livelihood taken away with no alternative put in place for them.

The oil industry, all over the world is not a huge employer of labour even though it enriches the state Treasury with correspondingly huge receipts. Also worth a mention: domestic politics of majority tribes firmly entrenched in the recruitment within the oil industry in Nigeria goes against the grain, giving rise to a demonstration of the Niger Deltans' sensitivity to the social and environmental upheaval oil exploration and exploitation inevitably bring.

The discovery of champagne oil, the light sweet crude, in the Gulf of Guinea, a commodity which is becoming increasingly scarce has prompted the expansion and a ramp up of offshore production. Bonga, Agbami, Oyo and more are in the offing. I contacted a former classmate from the University of Manchester, UK, connected with Greenpeace International and versed in analysing the impact of offshore oil drilling for a little education on this aspect of oil production. He informed me that oil drilling and exploration disrupts aquatic life, drives fishes farther out in the sea. Fishes flee from barges and one cannot find any aquatic life for miles after ships pass.

The crew search for oil, he said, by emitting large underwater blasts of sounds and these explosions according to my source are 10 times the volume of a rocket launch and cause considerable damage to the aquatic environment. How clean is the offshore production itself? Ever wondered where oil companies operating in the country dump their oil and gas installations of radioactive waste?

The wanton ravaging of the Niger Delta region in search of oil money to share and to misappropriate by governments has been going on for fifty years! Any substantial contribution from the other states or region by way of sharing the Niger Delta burden would be accepted as a most welcome relief. This piece, therefore is also an SOS to other States of the Federation to begin the first tentative steps of contributing to the national economy and for those States who already contribute, the South-West and the South-East to step up the plate a little bit more. Quite frankly, the answer to the Niger Delta question is starring us in the face.

It is easy to dismiss Dr. Aliyu's utterance about 'can do better' with the twin arrows of education and agriculture in his quiver as exaggerated politicking. But I had not taken that route. I have taken the path of enlightenment stressing the ruin to the environment and the damage to human existence perpetrated in the course of harnessing monthly, all-year-round Federal Allocations only from the Niger Delta region. Gripes, a parasite dies when it's host dies!

Albeit, having thrown down a heavy gauntlet on development, Dr. Aliyu is expected to turn off the taps of Niagara in his neck of the wood, match his words with action as part of his personal odyssey. Waiting for peak oil would amount to a defeat. He is, I would think, a man of principle, integrity and conscience.

Indeed, the price of staying together as a country has become such an excruciating burden to bear, economically, politically, and environmentally for the Niger Delta people. This is the top and bottom of the matter and it is simply a duty of repeating reality until the truth, 'INJUSTICE' rises to the surface and is addressed.