Niger Delta as election topic Number ONE!

INEC, the electoral commission, has challenged political parties to step up the race and rantings towards the 2007 goal post. I applaud.

My own challenge to the politicians is to make first things FIRST. In our case, it is the NIGER DELTA! Oil provides 90% of our national revenue and commands almost 98% of our quality exports. That is why a sneeze in the oil-bearing Delta convulses a cold in all of Nigeria. Rightly so.

Oil & gas are core to our humanity today in a million ways. Their supply should be affordable and assured. Otherwise the world, as we know it now, will grind to a debilitating halt. May God forbid. Which is why global attention focuses on the petroleum zones of the world. And why any hint of crisis in those nations send oil prices upwards! Painfully so.

Both for the world's economy and our own longevity, the Niger Delta needs to be stable and safe. If not, we diminish our standing and damage our reputation as a responsible member of the commity of nations. We would soon revert to the inglorious status of a pariah, no matter what we profess. If the world sees us as a substantive cause of price hikes, then we become a threat to all humanity. Can we afford that? Just perish the thought!

When President Bush told Americans this week that some of the countries the US relies upon for oil supplies either have unstable governments or are hostile to his country (more like his administration, we must assume!), I wanted to ask President Obasanjo to pick which category he gleefully fitted Nigeria into, during his recent photo-call at the White House! Such pity. For all of SEVEN profitable (in terms of oil revenues) years, this democratic dispensation failed to make any headway in the Niger Delta Question. No matter. They are going, anyway. And no tears.

Now, let all those who wish to seek our votes and mandate in 2007 start the debate: What do you plan for the lands and peoples of the region? How will you accomplish it? And when? At what cost? Let the media take up the challenge, and set the agenda...NOW!

Any party or politician falling short of this priority pact should be consigned to the back-waters. We've had enough charlatans, rent-seekers and puppets. Let the real patriots step forward. Our nation bleeds. And we need HEALERS.