How I escaped the war front as 16-yr-old Biafran soldier — Senator Nimi Amange

Senator Nimi Amange former represented Bayelsa East in the upper chamber of the National Assembly. Recently, he threw the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party into distress when he suddenly defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with his supporters. The lawyer and petroleum engineer spoke with PAUL UKPABIO on the reasons for his action, his lifestyle and other issues of interest.

” I was conscripted into the Biafra army at age 16 and had three weeks training. Thereafter, we were to go to the war front and fight. But luckily enough for me, my aunt who I was staying with had a discussion with a colonel in the Biafra army who was a man from Nembe. “

Is it really true that you have left the Peoples Democratic Party?

I have left the PDP. I left the party when I found that an individual had decided to take over the party. This is not the way it was when we brought the party to Yenogoa. Party leaders were meeting regularly then to take decisions that affected the party. Party leaders allowed primaries and supported winners after general contest. But now, an individual, because he has been elected governor, decided that all the councilors must be his boys, all the eight chairmen of local governments must be his boys. Annoyingly, the person he picks to be his deputy governor is from the same local government with him. I looked at it and noticed that the national body did not do anything about it, so I had to leave for where I can be useful to my people. That was why I left to join APC. Definitely by the grace of God, APC will win the gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.

 You said somewhere that your hometown Nembe did not have a secondary school until 1965. Are you happy with the state of education in Nembe today?

This is one of the problems I have with the incumbent governor of the state. Former Governor Sylva, who is from Nembe, established a college of education before any higher institution in the whole area. But when the incumbent governor came, the first thing he did was to move that College of Education to his village. Have you ever heard of that? After that, he has established two other higher institutions within his own area. Does he expect us to be happy with his action?

If you were given the opportunity to go to the Senate again, what do you think you would add?

I am always working for my people. I joined politics because I wanted my place to develop the way the other places are developing. I am also worried about the 13 per cent derivation money. We are the major oil producing community but we are not getting anything out of it. We are getting nothing because the governor believes that the money is a windfall and he uses it the way he likes. It is unlike other states like Abia, Imo, Edo and Delta where they have created oil producing area development committees. Once money comes from the

federation account, that is the 13% derivation, it is shared between the state and the oil producing area development committees, which uses its portion to develop the same communities. But in Bayelsa, it is the other way around.

I think that Bayelsa is one of the states where that kind of committee does not exist, meaning that here, the producing areas do not have any development. You can see that the road from Secretariat to Nembe was constructed by NDDC and STDC. The governor did not do anything. If I am back in the Senate, I will try to see that the money can be channeled directly to the oil producing communities, maybe not by way of cash, but by way of projects. Also the Petroleum Industry Bill that has been lingering for so many years, I would try to ensure that the bill sees the light of day so that the nation can benefit from that if the bill is passed.

For some time now, it seems the agitation in the creeks has subsided almost to zero point. What would you adduce that to?

The success goes to the combined effort of the communities and the Nigerian security forces. They have indeed done a good job. The amnesty programme has helped too. Most of the boys were moved, some went for training abroad, and some have been back and are now working as entrepreneurs. From the analysis given by NNPC, pipeline vandalism is still there but not as high as it was some years ago. But they are still working hard to see that it is pushed to the barest minimum.

You paid your way through school through fishing in the coastal waters of Bayelsa State. How is the business of fishing now in the state? Is it growing compared to the time you were growing up?

It is not the way it was in those days. Then, you could fish and move out of your community. Paddle for just 10 minutes outside your community and you would get a whole lot of fishes. But now, you must move very far into the sea before you can get fish because of the pollution of the water. So we are not enjoying the fishing activities like we used to do in those days.

 Your hometown Nembe is about 15 kilometres away from Oloibiri where oil was first found in Nigeria. It is surrounded by about 200 oil wells. How rich is the average person in your hometown? What is the average standard of living in your place?

Well the community is in the hands of the chiefs. I don’t know what takes place in other communities in the whole of Bayelsa State because I have not visited all. But I can say that this is the only community in Bayelsa state where the government is not doing anything in terms of development, because the electricity that we are enjoying is an understanding between the oil producing companies and the community. They gave us generators and gave us diesel to run them. Government does not care whether you have electricity or not. Then the portable water we enjoy in the community was given to us in the early 70s when Elder Spiff was the governor. We service the water system. The community chiefs do the regulation. If there is pump failure, it is the community chiefs that see to it. We don’t have local government activities here because the local government chairman lives in Yenegoa. He visits once in a while to come and pay salaries and returns to his place. Those are the issues.

 You have not contested an election in a long while. Do you have a plan to do so?

If I have a space, I will try my best. But power belongs to God. I still have the interest of my people and I believe that they too believe in me; that I can represent them effectively. So if there’s a chance to go back to the Senate, I will do that.

Do you really miss the Senate?

Not exactly, but I am not interested in executive positions. I prefer the Senate because law making is about the development of one’s area and community. Some people may think that executive positions are better, but for me, I know I can contribute to the development of my people more from the Senate.

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