<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On February 15, I watched on\ntelevision the inauguration of the Yenagoa airport. The airport occupies 2,250\nhectares of land. It has 3.5kilometres run way. One of the world\u2019s largest air\ncargo companies will establish its West African hub at Yenogoa to serve\nNigeria, West and Central Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project for the airport started in 2012 shortly after Governor Henry Seriake Dickson assumed office as the Governor of Bayelsa State. Governor Dickson the big man with big ideas pursued relentlessly the construction of the airport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am still worried why the airport was not completed during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan. In spite of the money expended on the project, I consider the airport as a symbol of the Ijaw people also known by the subgroups \u201cIjo\u201d or \u201cIzon\u201d) who are a collection of peoples indigenous to the Niger Delta in Nigeria, inhabiting regions of the states of Ondo, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Southern part of Abia and Rivers. Ethnic identity and national identity may be in conflict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
National identity can be thought of as a collective product. In spite of huge cost certain historical symbolism must be established that promotes ethnic identity. Ethnic identity is paramount. In a The Ijaws can now proudly claim\nthat they too have an airport. With the inauguration of the Yenagoa airport,\nall the six states capital of the South-South now have an airport. They are\nPort Harcourt, Benin, Uyo, Asaba, Calabar and now Yenagoa. I remember with nostalgia my first visit to\nSagbama, in the present Bayelsa State which happens to be the hometown of\nGovernor Dickson. My visit there was in 1980. We took a boat ride from Port\nHarcourt to Sagbama. We were on the sea for hours. We passed through Ossiama,\nAdagbariri, Adoni, Agbere, Asamabiri, Angalabiri, Ebedebiri, Osekwenike and\nAgoro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I understand that Governor Dickson has constructed a road linking Sagbama with Yenogoa now, which I regard as one of the wonders of the world. When Governor Dickson\u2019s term ends on February 14 next year, he will be 54. He will be too young to be called an elder statesman then and with all his proclamation on Ijaw nation and what he has done in Bayelsa State in the last seven years, I am sure he will not live permanently in Abuja and Lagos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He may find it convenient to live in Yenagoa and will seek his SAN award while pursuing his legal career as a corporate lawyer. By February next year he will be the first governor to serve 2 full terms in Bayelsa state. The next few months will be challenging for him finding a worthy successor to take over from him, so that his legacy will be of continuity. Governor Dickson should ensure that the Port Harcourt\/Yenagoa road is fully completed before February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has done a lot for the stateIt is my hope\nand desire that we should be hearing good news from the Niger Delta. That\nregion has seen enough tragedy in spite of the fact that the region feeds the\nnation through its natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember that Chief\nObafemiAwolowo had highlighted the division that existed in the then eastern\nregion when the region was made up of what we regard as south east zone, Akwa\nIbom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River State. He insisted before the Civil War\nthat the non-Igbos must be separated from eastern region. Chief Awolowo\ndescribed the non-Igbos in the then eastern region as COR region people. COR\nsimply meant at that time as Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0In a speech delivered by Chief ObafemiAwolowo on May 1 1967 before the civil war in Ibadan. He said on that day that \u201cthere are eleven national or linguistic groups in the COR area, with a total population of over five millions. These national groups are as distinct from one another as the Ibos are distinct from them or from the Yorubas or Hausas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the eleven, the Efik, Ibibio, Annang national groups are 3.2 million strong as against the Ijaws, who are only about 700,000 strong. Ostensibly, the remaining nine national groups number 1.4millions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But when you have subtracted the Ibo inhabitants from among them, what is left ranges from the Nigerians, who number 8,000 to the Ogonis, who are 230,000 strong. A decree creating a COR state without a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the peoples in the On the other hand, if the COR state is created by decree after the Eastern Region shall have made its severance from Nigeria effective, we should then be waging an unjust war against a foreign state. It would be an unjust On May 27 1967, General Gowon\ncreated two states out of the then eastern region.Thestates were south eastern\nstate and Rivers state. The people of the south south owe a debt of gratitude\nto General Yakubu Gowon for creating those two states and appointing indigenes\nof the states as military governors. He appointed BrigadierUdoakaha Jacob\nEsuene (1933-1993) as military governor of south eastern state and Commander\nAlfred Papaprieye Diete-Spiff (76), an Ijaw man as military Governor of Rivers\nstate. General Gowon also appointed Dr. OkoiArikpo (1916-1995), Chief\nWenikeOpurum Briggs and Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark as Ministers. He also made\nChief Harold Jenewari Dappa Biriye (1920-2005) Chairman of National Arts Council.\nThe Council was involved in the preparation of FESTAC 77. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the creation of states by General Yakubu Gowon, the problem of the Niger Delta started years ago with collapse of the structure system in the early 19th century. The causes of the collapse must be traced primarily to the dominant economic change of the era\u2014the abolition of the slave trade and also to its resultant social and political effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The abolition of the slave trade by the British at the beginning of the 19th century (1807) had adverse effect on the economy of the Delta States. In the effort to effect the abolition, British warships blockaded the coasts of the Niger Delta to prevent slave-ships taking slaves from Delta ports to the New World. And although the slave trade continued desultorily through smuggling until 1840s, the illegal traffic was fast declining and the coastal communities who had depended far too long on a slave-trading economy suffered a rude economic shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is true these states made\nefforts to offset the threatening economic collapse arising from the abolition\nby changing over to the growing palm oil trade. But the British did not allow\nthem to gain full advantage from this new trade. They used warships of the\nBritish Navy against the city-states in order to gain trading advantages for\nBritish merchants. In 1854, Consul Beecroft used the warships to force King\nDappaPepple of Bonny into exile in order to satisfy the demands of British\nsupercargoes here who felt the king was obstructing British trade by not yielding\nto their terms of trade. In 1856, Consul Lynslager destroyed Old Town, Calabar\nto punish King Eyo and African merchants for attempting to ship oil direct to\nEngland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another factor which brought\neconomic ruin to the Delta States was British commercial penetration into the\ninterior of the country especially along the Niger River. The rivalry between\nthe Delta middlemen and British traders beginning with Macgregor Laird in 1856\nreached its climax in their struggle with the Royal Niger Company from 1886. By\nestablishing a stringent monopoly of the Niger trade, the Company stifled the\nDelta middlemen out of business. Brass and Opobo were the most hard-hit and\ncollapsed economically.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On February 15, I watched on television the inauguration of the Yenagoa airport. The airport occupies 2,250 hectares of land. It has 3.5kilometres run way. One of the world\u2019s largest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[498],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Eric-Teniola.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":128401,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/david-lyon-needs-total-support-ijc-tells-gov-seriake-dickson\/","url_meta":{"origin":115041,"position":0},"title":"David Lyon Needs Total Support – IJC Tells Gov. Seriake Dickson","author":"Damilare Salami","date":"November 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has called on Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson to support the Governor-elect of the state, Chief David Lyon. IYC in a statement signed by its President, Eric Omare further appealed to the Candidate of the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) to accept defeat and congratulate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Bayelsa,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Ijaw-Youth-Council-IJC.jpg?fit=500%2C281&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19600,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/jonathans-presidency-waste-ijaws-bayelsa-governor-seriake-dickson\/","url_meta":{"origin":115041,"position":1},"title":"Jonathan’s Presidency was a Waste for Ijaws – Bayelsa Governor, Seriake Dickson","author":"Arinze Ago","date":"May 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Governor of Bayelsa state, Seriake Dickson, on Tuesday, described the six years administration of Goodluck Jonathan as a wasted opportunity for the Ijaws. While speaking at the Ijaw House in Yenagoa in a gathering of Ijaw leaders and youths on Tuesday, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, regretted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Political Gists"","block_context":{"text":"Political Gists","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/political-gists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/dickson-jonathan-1.jpg?fit=500%2C267&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6541,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/chief-pere-ajunwa-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":115041,"position":2},"title":"Chief Pere Ajunwa is dead","author":"Reporter","date":"January 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Chief Pere Ajunwa who is the presidential candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party of Nigeria (LDPN) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) is dead. 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