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Niger Delta Militancy due to long neglect - Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw

By Max Ese Anderson

On the 5^th of December 2009, during the prestigious ADLER AWARDS organized by the African Youth Foundation in Bonn, Germany, The African Bulletin’s Max Ese Anderson spoke with the erudite but ebullient Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from  Cross River State South Senatorial District. The honourable Senator is a product of the renowned New York University. Before becoming a Senator, he worked with Chase Manhattan Bank, and also with Citibank. He was the first indigenous Managing Director of Agbara Estates Limited. The excellence oriented Senator was the Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Ecobank, Cote D’Ivoire.  He is the current chairman of the Senate Committee on Water resources, and a member of the committees on Millennium Development Goals, Federal Character & Inter-Government Affairs, Federal Capital Territory, Employment, Labour & Productivity.

Excerpts:

TAB: In the next five years what do you project Nigeria to be like developmentally?

Senator:  There is no doubt in my mind that one of the major challenges that African countries, including Nigeria, have faced, has been the quality of leadership. But as our democracy takes root, as institutions get stronger, as the culture builds up, things are beginning to improve, people are beginning to hold those in office accountable, you understand? So I think that we can only move forward. In another five years, I don’t believe that everything will be perfect, but I believe that more and more voices are being raised against bad governance; more and more action is being taken against corruption and bad government. And therefore we can only improve, to what extent we will improve, I don’t know, but I believe honestly that five years from now we will be better than we are today.

TAB: You are a south-south Senator …

Senator: Yes

TAB: … What’s your take on the militancy and the Niger-Delta crises?

Senator: Well, the issue of militancy arose because of long neglect of the people of the Niger-Delta, that’s where all the oil, all the money the government of Nigeria makes comes from. And I remember that in 2007, the senate held a retreat on the Niger-Delta in Port Harcourt, and usually at the retreats we break ourselves up into groups and we visit the various sectors of the geopolitical zones. I was with the group that went to Bayelsa State, and you could see the deprivation of the people in the areas that produce the wealth of the nation. No water to drink, they are drinking from river water that have been polluted by faeces and petrol. Those were the issues that the people faced. Graduate coming out of the universities with no employments, nothing to do. And he sits back to watch all these money that is accruing to the country being taken and employed to develop other places. So they decided to rise up. Now the Federal Government has instituted this policy of amnesty, I think that peace has returned to the zone; the young people there now have a reason to believe that the Government of Nigeria will understand and take appropriate steps to ensure their welfare. So there is peace in the area now. The other issues of kidnappings that are going on are pure and simple criminal activities to extort money from people. I think that the lesson to be learned from the Niger-Delta crises is that no region in the country, no matter how small, no matter how big, should be ignored or neglected, because we are all citizens of the same country, we have equal rights and we should have equal opportunities attainable to all of us, regardless of where you were born.

TAB: Recently, a historic case was opened in The Hague, in the Netherlands; four Nigerian farmers took Shell Company to court. Do you think that cases like this will have any positive impact in the Nigeria Government-Niger Delta-Multinational Company relationship?

Senator: Well, I don’t know, but what I can tell you is that Nigerians, particularly Nigerians in government, must understand that they have a huge responsibility for ensuring that the welfare of the people of Nigeria, constitutionally, is their responsibility. That is what our constitution requires, that the basis of government is to ensure the welfare of the people, and therefore if you are sitting in government, regardless of who you are, whether you are a minister, whether you are a legislator, what have you, … and you take bribe, or for whatever reason you allow multinationals to do the kind of things that have been happening in Nigeria and get away with it, then you have failed the people of Nigeria. A lot of multinationals get away with just about anything, because nobody is there to enforce the law, nobody is there to check them. No oil company can go and create spillage or pollution in Europe or in the U.S. and get away with it lightly; why should it happen in Nigeria? No company in telecommunications can provide dysfunctional service to people … yet the customer pays for it. They will put them out of business. Why must it be different in Nigeria? What I am saying to you is that, those people who are in the positions of authorities to check these things, and are not doing it, are not doing themselves or the people of Nigeria a favour. They are the problem with Nigeria.

TAB: Briefly, a word of advice to Nigerians, here in the Diaspora, back home, and also to those in government.

Senator: I think that Nigeria is improving; I think that things are improving, even if very slowly, almost imperceptibly. There is change taking place. And it is those who do not realize that change is taking place that will be caught on the wrong foot when the change is actually strongly manifested. My honest view is that we have a responsibility to ourselves as Nigerians, whether living abroad or in Nigeria, to ensure that we put the interest of our nation first in whatever it is we are doing, because collective success is real success, individual success means collective failure. … So your own individual wealth and success does not translate to much, it’s only a mirage. The truth is that collective success, when we all take collective responsibility to ensure that power is available to every Nigerian, that the roads are motorable for all Nigerians, that there is portable water for all Nigerians, that the minimum health care standards are provide for all Nigerians. Then we can say that we have collective success.

TAB: Thank you very much Senator Ewa-Henshaw, it’s been nice talking with you.

Senator: Thank you, it’s my pleasure and you are welcome.

Challenges facing Small Migrant NGO’s in the Netherlands

By Stella Evelyne Tesha*

Sharing information is an important part of sustainable development. That is the reason why I have decided to write this article because I think a lot of people can benefit by understanding the different challenges that face young NGO’s during the grants application process.

Please note, this is just my story. It might well be that others have a different story.

In 2001, I decided to follow my vision. This being, following up on what I have always believed to be true that ‘’everyone can make a difference’’. The first time I heard those words was in 1977, when the late Tanzanian president Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere uttered them as a completion of his speech. Needless to say, as a four year old I wasn’t listening to the speech at all, but the ending caught my attention and stuck forever.

With this in mind, I decided to take up development studies with Open University of UK.  As an African single mother in Netherlands, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But since I already knew what I wanted, it was pretty clear that in order to achieve this vision I had to work full time, at the same time ensure that my baby was well taken care of, make sure to take care of all the extra school bills as well as find time to study and pass my exams.

It wasn’t until 2007 that I was able to start Green Waters foundation. With the support of my dear friends Bianka Wettin, Neelis van der Holst, Melissa Yvonne Tesha, and Walter Simime we have managed to get where we are today.

We both agreed that as a main project, we want to empower marginalized women in Africa to learn professional skills so that they can be able to support themselves and their dependants. As a team, we had the book knowledge about development, we had the understanding of the background situation in African communities, we could put together a project plan, but we had no idea how much drama is involved in grants applications. This last factor is the number one crutch for new NGO’s.

I am fond of donors, but at the same time I’m frustrated with donors. For example, NCDO, is a great donor and they sponsor a lot of wonderful projects. But my goodness! One needs at least half a year to fill in their grant application form, and before you are done, you have to write very good (and hopefully legitimate) promotion plans for your project in the Netherlands otherwise you might as well forget about the application.

After spending half a year filling in NCDO form I had to gave up. I figured when I decided to work in development, I didn’t sign up as a promotion campaigner. It takes a lot of time to organize events. And besides, where are young NGO’s supposed to get money for PR when they don’t even have money to implement the project or for running costs? It doesn’t make any sense when I look at it from a ‘’development’’ point of view.

There are many things that came up during the processes of grants applications, but I’ll tell you only one more which was quite interesting to me. You see, I can understand when a donor turns down a project with a good reason, at least a reason that assures me that the project has been read. But I got casual turn downs like this one ‘’ your project will only directly benefit 11 women, therefore it is not interesting enough for us’’ Well….!? I mean, I can understand when it is a commercial company turning me down based on profit and loss, but the whole point of sponsoring any number of women applicants to attend skills training courses is for their benefit as well as the benefit of their dependants. It might be that as a first group only 11 women applied, but these are women who have no jobs, no social security, no health insurance, no steady income of any kind and some of them young adults who have been orphans all their lives and widows with no safety nets. I wondered if the donor would have been more willing to sponsor me if I put an interesting number like 500 women? Are the lives of 11 women less important than 500 women? Doesn’t it make a difference if they can get economically independent by learning these professional skills and get away from domestic abuse or stand against genital mutilation of their daughters? I wondered if there was any ‘’development’’ logic behind the turning down of my project.

Anyway, these are all the challenges that young NGO’s may get while doing grants applications, some donors have more enlightened staff than others but some have simply become automatic pilots. They have forgotten the reason why they originally wanted to work in development. They have forgotten, to look beyond the figures.

You see, this is my point. Development has to be sustainable development. By empowering even 1 person who is committed, you may very well be empowering the whole community. On the other hand by pouring money into organizations that are good in PR, it doesn’t mean that they can do a better job in development, it simply means they have the money and they put it into advertising.

Donors have to understand, this is not just a job for most of us, it is a dedication to our heritage. When we hear of genital mutilation, those are probably our baby sister. When we see advertisements about Malaria, HIV/Aids victims, those are our friends and relatives. When you read of people who are dying from starvation, those are our brothers and sisters. When you read and get horrified with the news about fistula, that is the fate of our daughters and sisters. As Africans, we are not separated from these problems, just because we relocate to another country.

Now that the year 2010 has started. I urge donors to be more aware of their administrative procedures which are becoming a crutch to motivated migrants who are committed to make a difference where they come from.

As Africans, we have come a long way since our ancestors struggled to gain us independence. As a generation of this era, we too have a responsibility to make a contribution and help our communities move a step forward. I believe, sustainable development in Africa can be achieved through cooperation between migrants NGO’s and donor NGOs. In my opinion, there has to be a platform for both sides to communicate what is needed in order to be able to work together as partners. This is a wonderful legacy to leave behind for the next generations. We have examples that history has a way of affecting many generations to come. We now have this chance to influence the history that will be written in school books and alleviate the pain of past history.

In my opinion. The year 2010, the motto for all donors, NGO’s and all who read this article should be ‘‘Empowering people to make a difference’’.

We sincerely appreciate the knowledge contribution received from COS Zuidholland, especially from Huub Severiens and Lavinia Oliveira while we were working on implementing Green Waters foundation. We also appreciate the financial support received from Oxfam Novib and Voeten in de Aarde towards project MIKITA.

*Stella Evelyne Tesha is with Rotterdam based Green Waters Foundation (www.green-waters.org)

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