abdulraheem
The media last week reported that Nigeria had reached an agreement with the USA in the words of THISDAY newspaper of Friday, December 9th, 2005, “to help ensure stability in the Niger Delta”. The communiqué talked of “America’s commitment to a full partnership with the Nigerian government in the pursuit of peace and prosperity in the Niger Delta.” The background to this says that Nigeria, as Africa’s biggest oil producer is the fourth largest crude supplier to the US. As a nation with a substantial influence in the Gulf of Guinea, it is also seen as a substantial supplier to the US, especially given the current instability in the Middle East. But the Niger Delta which produces most of Nigeria’s oil is also crisis-ridden, so the US, according to the American Ambassador, John Campbell, as quoted by THISDAY newspaper, has “agreed to cooperate in instilling stability in the Niger Delta.” This is precisely the point. Why does the Nigerian government under Obasanjo, want the USA to help “instill stability” in a region of our country? What exactly did Obasanjo agree to? Did he involve the National Assembly in his recent agreement with the USA? What are the dangers lurking in the agreement for our nation’s sovereignty? These are not idle questions, given Obasanjo’s track record of mortgaging our national interest to the USA. He had signed the American Servicemen Protection Act (ASPA) in the past, secretly, without involving the National Assembly. Obasanjo handed over our nation’s military to the Americans, and even the economic policies causing so much pains to our people have an American imprimatur. We have always argued that our national interest and that of the United States are not the same. Nigeria is a developing country while the United States is the leading imperialist country in the world, whose international relations is based on exploitation and military aggression especially in regions where such a strategic resource as oil is located. This was one of the two main reasons that it has illegally occupied Iraq. The Niger Delta is restive as a result of a combination of state inaction and irresponsibility, the activities of transnational oil companies and other related reasons, that must be addressed by a democratic Nigerian state, not by getting the USA to “instill stability”. We have to know exactly what Obasanjo has given away in the latest agreement with the USA over the Niger Delta. Members of the National Assembly, the media and civil society organizations must ask that the agreement reached with the USA be brought out for public scrutiny.
