Urhobo
Historical Society
|
THE
NEED FOR A DEVELOPMENT BANK IN
URHOBOLAND:
Charting
A New Course in Economic
Growth and Human
Development
By Emmanuel Urhobo,
Ph.D.
Being a paper
delivered at
the 5th Annual Conference of Urhobo Historical
Society on the 29th of
October, 2004,
at Petroleum Training Institute,
Effurun,
Delta State
of Nigeria.
President
Matthew Olusegun
Obasanjo, in his first outing as the Military President of Nigeria,
made a
profoundly accurate statement on the nature of the Nigeria economy at
the
opening of Nigerian’s First International Trade Fair, when he described
the
Nigerian economy as “A TRADING POST ECONOMY” (page
2023 of West
Africa Magazine September, 1985)
Senator David Dafinone in his forward to Environmental Issues and
Challenges of the Niger
Delta by Deacon Gamaliel Onosode stated as follows: “The
region called the Niger
Delta is a paradox. It is the richest but the poorest region in Nigeria.
The area constitutes the oil belt and produces the wealth of the
nation.
For decades the country has depended on it (still is) to transform
lives,
cities and impose civilization on rural communities. Ironically, the
owners of
the wealth wallow in abject poverty, unaffected by billions of dollars
taken
away from them. They have no access to clean water, electricity
and
majority of them live in thatch houses. The long years of painful
neglect and
delays coupled with unbridled explorations and exploitations of their
oil and
gas have laid the region bare as evidenced by large-scale want,
squalor,
ignorance disease and idleness. He argued that Resource Control ! is a
vital
ingredient of federalism. "It is only through it that the region can
address the poor state of infrastructural network necessary for
sustainable
economic development. For the sake of justice and equity, now is the
time for
the country to take a bold step and act to restore hope and reduce
human misery
in the region . . . .”
Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi in
his thoughts on Nigeria 44 years after Independence stated as follows: “The Independence we got in 1960 was more political than
everything
else in the sense that at that period, we were too closely tied to Britain to even begin to talk about any manner of
economic
independence. The challenges that Nigeria faces now is largely of leadership and
the
other one
is the problem of the elite. If you look at much of the
socio-economic
and political problems that we have had in this country, you can trace
them to
the elite and to our leaders. They have not kept pace with the things
they are
supposed to deliver. If you look at how the resources have been
managed; if you
look at the kind of political arrangement that we have; if you look at
the
provision of infrastructure, you will understand the situation “My hope
is that
some time, somewhere, someday, this Country will produce a different
generation
of leaders that will really be compassionate about the thing!s that
affect Nigeria.”
(Nigerian Vanguard,
Friday,
October 1, 2004, at page 59)
I
have never met Mr. Lolu Akinwumi, But for someone who was only
two
years old when Nigeria
had its Independence, his
insight
on Nigeria
and
its leadership, gives me some hope that an indigenous, intellectual and
social
revolution in Nigeria,
which will change for good the fortunes of this nation, is still
possible. It
may no longer be in my life-time, but it is still possible.
It is my intention in
this paper to ague with data from our past economic performance --
since Nigeria’s Independence exactly frty-four years ago --
that
Nigerians in control of economic and political power have been
ungodly, criminally selfish, lazy, and/or they have ignorantly and
unconsciously
directed the economy and benefited themselves and their
families
and friends only from it, without caring for the great majority of the
people
who are made poorer by their mismanagement of Nigeria’s
resources. What
is glaringly clear and inescusable is that they know the economy
is not
working for the majority of the people of Nigeria but they have
no
original thoughts on how to make it walk for the people and they have
become insensitive to the plight of the poor by continuing
to expropriate as much of the wealth
that belong to the people , to themselves, as is physically
possible. Not
only that , they surround themselves with security walls a! t the
expense
of the people flaunting the wealth so acquired provocatively
before the
masses and they tell the people sweet stories about how well-
intentioned
their intentions are for the people they are ruling. They refuse
to
follow the examples of good leadership in the world, especially
in Asian,
countries like China, Japan, Malaysia, or India, counties with very
large
populations but less endowed with natural resources than Nigeria is.
The
only way out for the future ,in the absence of a bloody revolution is
to
arrest
political and economic power from those who have seized it; is
for
every community to look inwards for its own salvation, while continuing
to
dialogue and negotiate for more political and economic
concessions from
those who have monopolized both.
WHAT DETERMINED NIGERIAS TRADING PATTERN OF GROWTH?
After
the Second World War (1939-1945), Western economists advocated several
models of
growth and development, particularly for the less- developing and
dependent
economies like Nigeria.
The most popular, though unsuccessful, model was “Trickle Down
Theory.”
The advocates of this model insisted that greater growth should be
pursued in
the less-developed economies, as a means of solving their economic
problems
and moving towards the self –perpetuating growth stage. Not much
thought was
given to the nature of the growth itself and the nature of the
relationships between
the developed and the less-developed economies in the capitalist system
of the
then world which favored the developed economies to the disadvantage of
the
less-developing ones.
Structural
changes were advocated in the non-developing economies to encourage
foreign
investments from the developed economies to the less-developed ones, so
as to
accelerate their growth and development. Expected investments from the
developed economies only trickled into the areas which benefited the
developed
economies mostly. The net result of this policy was a net cash flow
from the
less-developed to the developed economies through the medium of
trade.
It was
expected that as a result of greater growth, which would
result and
spread throughout the economy, the benefits of the greater growth
would
trickle down to the masses EVENTUALLY. But we shall see from my
presentation of
data in this paper that between 1960 and 2003, the Nigerian
economy
continued to grow in the narrow oil export
sector,
excessive imports exceeding its income, service sector, particularly
the ever
expanding public sector, while the agricultural sector particularly and
the
industrial sector recorded negative growth, whic! h left
more and
more people ,at least 80% of the population , outside the
organized
public and private sectors of the economy, who were
getting
poorer as the economy continued to grow in only a narrow direction
without
their participation in it.
THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY FROM COLONIAL DAYS TO
1980
How did the
Nigerian economy perform from the colonial days to 1980? Nigeria
thrived as an agricultural economy producing palm oil in Eastern
Nigeria, rubber, timber palm oil and cocoa in Western
Nigeria and cotton and groundnuts in Northern
Nigeria.
It had a small colonial administration, and thrived as a promising
agricultural
economy producing some surplus for growth. It is to be noted
particularly here
that there were hardly any divided interests or loyalties during he
period of
colonial administration. The British administrators served their
national
interests very well and there were very little if any business
relationships
between the British administrators and their fellow citizens in
the
private sector, such as Lever Brothers or John Holt.
Corruption,
divided loyalties and the penchant for gaining
control of
government by foul means, as was later characteristic of military
and lately civilian governments, were therefore not attractive
nor
possible.
The
Nigerian economy had its focus on narrow growth in trade and services
only and
this has been at the root of its lack of balanced growth and
development. An
economy can grow in one or more selected sectors, drawing all resources
from the other weak sectors to itself, while these other
sectors of
the economy stagnate, as we will find in the Nigerian experience.
Growth
took place in Nigeria
between 1960 and 1980, in the oil extracting, industries, public sector
and
private services sectors. This contributed about 80% of the GDP by
1980. In
terms of the spread of growth, it was limited to a few
enterprises
and it affected only a small percentage of the population living
and
working in the urban centres.
Increased
public spending mostly on recurrent rather than on capital for
infrastructural and
social development, had little impact in stimulating growth generally
or the
diversification of the economy horizontally.
The
Agricultural sector became stagnant as very little changes occurred in
the
sizes of farms, land holding system, methods of production, or
inputs
into agriculture. The contribution of agriculture to GDP therefore fell
drastically in this period 1960 to1980 from 64 % to 23%. Industrial
growth was
very slight and hardly affected the agricultural sector.
The
Petroleum sector increased dramatically between 1964 and 1980 by about
40% a
year on the average. Its production rose from 5,100 to 2.3 million
barrels a
day and has been curiously hovering around that figure ever since
(in 24
years) In monetary terms the increase was from about N64 million to
about N
1,841 million per annum. The oil industry remained mainly an
oil-extracting industry.
By
1980, oil contributed 80% to total revenue of Government compared
with 1%
in 1960. Its main contribution to the economy in the period was
the
revenue generated for the Federal
Government, which led to increased government expenditure on
employment,
administration and social services and more importantly the increase in
the
consumption of imported goods. During this period also the industrial
sector
contributed only 7% to the GDP and total imports rose 15 times from
N420.9
million to N6, 709.8 million from 1964 to 1980. In 1977 there was a
deficit of
imports over exports of N26 million. The Federal Government had a
surplus of
N4, 041.3 million over expenditure including accumulated
reserves
from the previous year due to a large improvement in the price of
oil. It
enabled the Federal Government to increase infra-structural, social and
capital
development in the three planned periods which were financed from oil
revenue
and the internal money market. The development budgets grew from N1,
353.6
million in 1962 to over N45000 in the 1976 – 1980 plan period. But in
spite of
this high income and investments, Nigeria
had the lowest number of vehicles per tarred kilometers of roads
compared with
other African countries. The transport sector was not able to
grow
rapidly enough to meet the growing demand for all forms of
transportation in the
country. Illiteracy during the period remained high and stood at 80 %
of the
population. Only a small percentage of children of school age went to
school
and completed their education.
The
health situation in the country during the period did not improve as
health
facilities were inadequate and they were concentrated in urban centers.
Nigeria’s
potentials from oil wealth increased within only the small modern
sectors of
oil production, imports, services and it did not spread to the rest of
the
economy with over 80% of the population.
THE ECONOMY 1981 -
2003
The Economy
followed the same pattern
of growth during this period. As more income form oil became
available to
the economy, public expenditure and imports increased rapidly. Although
I did
not have complete data from 1981 to 1987 the same pattern continued.
1
During the period of 1998 to 2002 for which I have data, the GDP
increased from
N2, 756,670 billion naira to N5,723.19 billion naira, an increase of
over 100%
but the components of the GDP did not show any appreciable improvement
in the
contribution of industry, particularly crude oil, to the GDP. In
1998
crude oil contributed only N781.2 billion to the total of N2,756.670
billion
while agriculture contributed N1,057,580 billion 28% compared
with nearly
40% for Agriculture. Of N5,723,190 million,
only
40% of the GDP, while Agriculture still contributed about 26% (See
Schedule 1
below).
2
The Federal Government Revenue and expenditure grew rapidly over the
period. Expenditure grew from N12 billion in 1982 to 1,600
billion in
2004, an increase of 1,310% in 22 years. (The Federal Government
recently
submitted a budget for the year 2005 to the National Assembly of N3,200
billion
on on the 12th of October, 2004)
3.
The National debt grew from N1,190,446 billion in 1998 to N4,941,200
billion in
2002, an increase of over 40% in 5 years.
4.
The Federal Government
deficit
spending increased dramatically from 1980 and is currently in 2003
standing at
N1,334 billion Naira. This has been responsible for growing inflation,
devaluation of the naira and restriction in banks lending
5.
The Federal Government is
currently
raising a loan from the open money market of N150 billion for financing
long
term projects, a good development on the one hand but a bad one on the
other
because it is inflationary and will reduce further capital available
for
investment in the rest of the economy.
6.
Exchange rates movement
during the period 1980 to 2003 had fluctuated
badly
against the Naira with devastating consequences to the purchasing power
of the
people. The cost of imports and all other goods continue to
skyrocket,
while the receipts for exports were tied to the dollar Which was fairly
stable.
The cost of imports of goods and services exceeded the income from oil,
while
the prices of essential goods and services rose to between 3,100 and
17,499%
between 1980 and 2003. (See Schedule 2 below)
1. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
1.
Nigeria
represents about 25% of the population of Africa
and it
contains the greatest number of Africans in one political unit.
Africans the
world over look up to Nigeria
with great expectations which has not been justified by the
proud
and wasteful ways the ruling class conducts their lives in full glare
of the
world.
2.
Nigeria
is number 105 out of 115 poorest countries in the world. That is, it is
number
10 from the bottom.
3.
Nigeria
is also
the only poor country in the world with oil resources
4.
Nigeria
is the
5th country with the highest mortality; it has the 10th
highest infant mortality rate in the world.
5.
Nigeria
ranks 10th world lowest in Health delivery services for people.
6. As far as Nigeria
is comparable with countries which were in similar economic situation
as Nigeria,
like Malaysia,
Singapore,Taiwan and Korea,40 years ago, these
countries are now economically miles away from Nigeria in growth and development.
Malaysia and Singapore got palm oil
and
rubber seedlings from Nigeria but today,
they are
the main stay of these economies. They export cooking oil to Nigeria and rubber
to the
rest of the world, while rubber and palm oil have almost become extinct
products
and occupations in Nigeria. India, China and Japan have
achieved
remarkable industrialization while not neglecting agriculture and rural
development. Japan has no
oil or
steel but it imports both, and it is the most advanced industrial
and
technological nation today, and sells its products throughout the world
cheaper
than any other nation on earth.<>
From
my analysis of
the Nigerian economy above, you should
have been convinced by now that Nigeria’s growth has not only been one
sided, a
growth in import and export trade exclusively, in which only a small
percentage
of the population of Nigeria, perhaps only less than 20% of the
120 or
150 million Nigerians benefit from.
<>Sadly, the Urhobo
Nation from whose soil nearly 50% of the
wealth of Nigeria
is produced is among the 80% of the Nigerian people who are living in
ever-
increasing poverty, as this type of growth continues. It is
therefore
correct to say that Nigeria
is growing through the reckless consumption pattern of its small
privileged
rulling class, from the proceeds of its natural resources (oil) and in
excess
of its income which produces two-digit inflation every year and reduces
rapidly
the value of Nigeria’s
currency. By the same token, it diminishes the income available
to the
majority of the population who are poor because they are either
unemployed or
under- employed.
This single
direction and
destructive growth trend in Nigeria compels me to contend, seriously,
that
there is no probability, in the foreseeable future, for Nigerians in
the seat
of Political and Economic Power (the politicians and governments at
various
levels, the Bankers, importers, contractors, etc who control the
economy), to
pursue a new economic policy that would be balanced and would
eliminate
poverty in Nigeria.
The Urhobo Nation
therefore needs to
develop a new strategy of development and initiate a
developmental
process directly with the people as entreprenural stimulators in the
important
areas which I have enumerated below. This will give our people not only
hope,
but opportunities for job creation, productivity, and prosperity.
I
believe this strategy, when properly articulated, would enable the
Urhobo
Nation to tap the vast resources of the Nigerian Banks, when those that
survive
the hurdle of the minimum of N25 billion capital, would then be
more
willing to get involved in long term funding of projects, in addition
to funds
which would be sourced from outside Nigeria.
This
development strategy will focus on the impact of development on the
beneficiaries of development: men, women and children and their
environment and
not on mere statistical growth in imports or Nigeria
oil exports or profits made by banks or the size of the Nigerian
capital
market.
THE
FOCUS WOULD BE ON:
A) AGRICULTURE,
RAW MATERIALS AND
PARTICULARLY, FOOD PRODUCTION PRESERVATION, STORAGE AND AGRO-INDUSTRIES.
B) MARKETING AND
TRANSPORTATION.
C) INVESTMENT IN THE DOWN
STREAM OIL SECTOR.
D) DRASTIC REDUCTION AND
CONTROL OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND SECURITY OF LAND, SEA RIVER
FLOODS AND
EROSION CAUSED BY DREDGING BY OIL COMPANIES AND FROM NATURAL CAUSES.
E)
SECURITY.
F)
SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT AND COST.
1.
AGRICULTURE AND AGRO-INDUSTRIES
In
Europe and later North America,
historically
development started with agriculture and animal farming and gradually
the
industrial revolution occurred and excess labour was attracted to the
cities
while the rural farms became enclosed and large-scale farms with very
few
labour emerged and producing food for the nation with plenty to
spare for
exports. This led gradually to balanced growth and development, with Europe
and North America subsidizing farming and
providing social
benefits
and social security for their people including unemployment benefits,
health
scheme, subsidized rent, food subsidies and pensions amongst others.
<>Lately India,
Japan
and China
with very large populations accounting
for two-thirds of
the population of the world at 9 billion people, have adopted a
development
strategy with human face, which has reduced yearly the numbers of the
poor and
raised the standard of living of their people considerably.
For Nigeria, agriculture should
be our first priority in economic growth and development without
ignoring the
advantages of industrialization. We have the people, land, capital,
plenty of
rain, sunshine and water and rainfall and with little or no
fertilizers,
grains, fruits and carbohydrates can be grown easily and there is
plenty of
room for animal breeding, fishing and fish farming.
My analysis of the Nigerian economy has
only confirmed that oil has only
brought increasing poverty to the majority of the people but wealth to
only a
few people who are involved in either exports or smuggling of our crude
oil or
in importing fuel and selling it and other manufactured goods. If
the 80%
of Nigerians who are poor are to survive, we must go back to
agriculture as the
first stage of our growth and development process, to create employment
for our
people, so that they may feed well and live well, selling their
surpluses
internally and internationally.
Since
the banks which are beneficiaries of the oil boom will not get involved
in any
long-term investments like agriculture, we must create a strategy to
assist
farmers directly to become productive and prosperous. By doing
this, we
will not be helping only the Urhobo nation but our neighbours and the
rest of Nigeria who
would benefit directly or through our
example:
(1)
We can grow cassava for consumption and starch for
industry and
exports. We can
grow corn and rice, pineapple and all other types of fruit. The
choices are
unlimited.
(2)
We can develop the technique of
food
preservation processing and storage. We can produce raw materials of
various
types for local industries and exports.
(3)
We need to pursue the
establishment of
agro-industries for internal consumption and exports.
2.
MARKETING
(TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION)
The
agricultural and agro-industrial
policy must involve farmers, the transportation and marketing of their
goods
and personnel and transportation generally, in and around their
communities.
The
farmer has always been in the
receiving end of exploitation and has never made any real or
substantial gains.
It was only a little different during colonial times because the
prosperity of the farmer provided a tax base directly and indirectly to
fund
for government administration.
Transporters,
middle
men, market unions, take away over 200% of what should have been due to
the
farmer and that is why, with increasing costs due to inflation caused
particularly by incessant fuel price increases, for instance, shortage
of
labour in the farms, diseases and lack of capital for inputs and
expansion of
farms, the farmer has always remained poor and disillusioned. For
instance, a bunch of plantains in a village less than 35 Kilometres
from
Warri,
sells to the end consumer in Warri for N600.00 but it is bought for
from N100
to N200.00 from the farmer who spends 12 months tendering the tree
which
produces only once in 12 months and dies. If the farmer could
receive 2/3
of that price directly and indirectly, his standard of living would
immediately
appreciate by between 100 and 300%.
3.
INVOLVEMENT IN THE DOWN -STREAM OIL SECTOR OF
OIL INDUSTRY
Countries
in Europe,
India
and Japan
have no oil but they are highly involved in down stream oil industries.
They
import oil, process them for their use and sale to the rest of the
world,
while
Nigeria's participation in the down stream oil sector is deliberately
abysmally
small because the oil companies and the Federal Government of Nigeria
are not
interested in processing crude oil which would create more employment
and
create more wealth from exports of processed oil related goods for
Nigeria,
inspite of all the talk about privatization and deregulation.
That is why
Nigeria's
four
Refineries are still dead and buried today.
The
Urhobo Nation can and ought to have an
aggressive policy in getting involved in the down stream oil sector
since about
50% of the oil and gas in Nigeria
comes from Urhobo land. The strategy must include attracting Countries
like Japan,
China
and India
to partner with the Urhobo people as individuals, groups, companies or
associations. Policy makers for the Urhobo nation should direct
this
involvement passionately in the interests, not only of the Urhobo
people but
the preservation and protection of the environment of the people,
including
that of our neighbours.
4.
DRASTIC REDUCTION AND CONTROL OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Oil
exploration in Urhobo land is being
carried out without regard to international health and safety standards
or
observed minimum levels of protection of the environment from chemical
pollution, in the air, land, rivers and water table. Gas flaring
has
continued unabated because it is cheaper to produce oil in Nigeria with
gas flaring
than not and because the Federal Government and the oil companies are
not yet
ready to invest the necessary capital on the technology for the
collection
processing and exportation of gas which would add tremendously to
Nigeria’s
wealth.
The
Urhobo Nation need to establish, as a
matter of urgency, experts to look into the effect of environmental
pollution
due to oil exploration on the lives of people, in collaboration
with
World experts. This should be the most immediate vital concern and
urgent action
to be taken on behalf of the Urhobo people, so that the Federal
Government and the oil Companies would be made accountable to the
people
affected by their negligence and to attract international attention to
pressurize the Federal Government and the oil companies to comply
international
standards for the protection of the health and safety of our people and
environment.
Another
environmental issue which begs for
attention immediately is the question of dredging of land to provide
access to
oil flow stations by oil companies. But the most immediate major
concern now
is the proposed dredging of the Niger River
from
its mouth to Lokoja to construct an inland port for the North
about 1,000
kilometres from the sea.
Most
of Delta, Ondo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa
lbom and Cross Rivers
States are below sea level
and if
the River Niger is dredged upland for 1000 kilometres to Lokoja, the
released
incoming sea waste, would wipe out most, if not all of Delta
State and all these other
States.
People’s homes and sources of income and life would be wiped out.
The
Urhobo Nation should support the Ijaws
and say NO! to the Federal Government's proposed dredging of
the Niger,
because it is a real threat to the lives and properties and incomes of
the
people of the Niger Delta Area. The Urhobo Nation should produce its
own impact
studies and invite the international arm of the UN and other
organizations in
the world with similar expertise and concerns about the
environment, to
undertake studies to ensure that the whole world is made aware of
the
consequences of such a Federal Government proposal to the people of the
Niger
Delta area and dissuade it from embarking on the project.
5.
SECURITY
In view
of the poor
security situation in the Nation, no serious development can take place
in an
atmosphere of unrest, insecurity, armed robbery, piracy and brigandry
in
the
Nation (not exclusively in the Niger Delta region) which the Federal
Government
is not able or willing to prevent, contain or, find permanent solutions
for.
The Urhobo Nation should improve the Police Community Relations System
by establishing a body to enlighten the Urhobo people about the
importance
of
personal/property, community and inter-community security, so as to be
vigilant
in preventing incursions of criminals into their communities and to
defend
themselves against them, in collaboration with the Nigeria Police
and
other Security agencies that are statutorily empowered for
security
matters in the Nation. This education should include the people
mobilizing themselves to ensure that (a) Security officers assigned to
perform
their duties effectively are supported and (b) to report any breaches
of the
standards of policing to their superior officers and the leaders of
their
Communities. This should provide adequate checks and balances on
security
matters at the Community level. Lives and properties in rural and
Urban
areas would be protected if security becomes a community affair.
It is
only then that we can have peaceful and meaningful development.
RECOMMENDATIONS
My recommendationa are
as follows:
1.
A
DEVELOPMENT PLAN:
In
order to stop the continuing poverty of
the Urhobo people, the Urhobo Nation needs to produce within a very
short time
a BLUE PRINT OF ITS POLICY ON DEVELOPMENT. A DEVELOPMENT
PLAN of its own should be produced so that when it is put in
place, and
competent persons dedicated to the development of the Urhobo nation are
nominated to execute the plan, I am convinced that it will snowball
very
quickly into a new dawn of excitement, hope and, accomplishments for
the Urhobo
people. It would be an engine for the creation of employment
opportunities,
productivity and prosperity, in Urhobo land. It will bring to an
end youth restiveness and the pains of deprivation and oppression being
suffered
presently by our people. Our neighbours, and other peoples in
similar
situations like ourselves in other parts of Nigeria,
will follow our example in a mass movement to emancipate the
people
from the existing oppressive Nigeria’s
politico-economic system.
(1)
THE
FIRST STEP IS TO SET UP A THINK TANK
I
humbly suggest that those who are
convinced of the creation of an URHOBO DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY here
present,
should wait behind today so that the idea can be further discussed and
goals
enumerated, after which, the body can be expanded and, as soon as
possible,
to include eminent professionals. Philosophers, psychologists,
sociologists,
educationists, engineers, economists,
accountants,
consultants, management experts, etc., can be invited to produce a
Development
Plan for the different identified projects, including the planning and
implementation and the financial proposals for implementing them which
would be
enumerated and quantified.
(2)
FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY.
A
Finance and Development Company would
then be incorporated and a body
of selected experts could be nominated to run the company which should
eventually, in course of time, transform into a Development Bank.
(1)
The organisation should be a grass-roots
one
operationally. The Head office should be centrally located in Urhobo
land end
the branches should be cited in economically viable centers in the
eight
Urhobo
Local Government areas including Urban Warri.
I am
fully convinced and wholeheartedly
committed to this vision which I
believe is not only possible now but imperative and
practicable for
the spiritual, political and economic liberation and survival of the
Urhobo
Nation in the Nigerian milieu.
Long
live the Urhobo Nation!
Long
live the Executive Governor of Delta
State Chief
James
Onanefe Ibori!!
Long
live the Urhobo Historical Society!!!
And
may
our dear
Nation Nigeria
recover soon from its many ills and also
live
long!!!!
<>
Emmanuel Urhobo
Agbarha-Warri Kingdom,
Delta State of Nigeria
29/10/20