How Niger Delta was underdeveloped by its leaders, by Dele Sobowale

“Niger Delta got $160bn in 27 yrs, yet remains underdeveloped – Aig-Imoukhuede” – VANGUARD, SEPTEMBER 16, 2026.

“Every country has the government it deserves” – Joseph de Maistre, 1753-1821.

Thank God for Nigerians like Aig-Imoukhuede who occasionally seizes the opportunity to tell Nigerians the truth we hate to hear.

He was the Keynote Address Speaker at the Niger Delta Economic and Investment Summit 2026 held in Port Harcourt.

The Summit itself is symptomatic of the way billions of naira is wasted by the leaders of the Niger Delta.

Delta State had its own Economic Summit a few weeks before.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was in attendance to proffer advice which will be soundly applauded and routinely disregarded by the governors.

Nobody should expect anything meaningful after the two summits.

Just as every country deserves the government it has, every sub-national region is the architect of its own fortune or misfortune.

To start with, $160bn exceeds the national debt by far.

At N1,400/$US1, N224trn has been collected by the governments since 1999 – with very little development to show for it.

That was the message Aig-Imoukhuede was trying to get across.

BETRAYAL OF ATTAH’S FIGHT FOR RESOURCE CONTROL

“The traitors in our midst, always highly trusted, always splendid fellows, always the last people to be suspected” – Agatha Christie, 1890-1976

That was centuries ago.

Right now, the traitors of the Niger Delta people, with one exception, Obong Victor Attah, cannot often be described as splendid fellows; and few people trust them.

They are the leaders of the region. When Attah led the struggle for RESOURCE CONTROL, as governor of Akwa Ibom State, he envisaged that receiving well-deserved higher percentage of derivation would lead to more rapid development of the region. He succeeded in getting more money for his people, and I can state authoritatively that Attah is an extremely unhappy man today.

Niger Delta, today, is so far behind, in terms of development, that those familiar with the region would be forgiven for wondering if it will ever become developed.

The rot set in very early.

FROM 1999 TO 2026

“A nation of sheep will soon have a government of wolves” – Anonymous

The nine states constituting the Niger Delta, before the recent inclusion of Anambra State – are ancestral homes to several nation-states.

Igbo, Ijaw, Urhobo, Ibibio, Bini, Itsekiri, Ilaje, Efik, Anang, to name a few.

They were all colonized by the British and suffered the consequences of subjugation; like the rest of Nigeria. Independence ostensibly came in 1960 giving the people a chance to become masters of their own fates.

That dream was short-lived when wolves in uniform seized power; relinquished it for four years; and took it again for 16 years.

The colonial officers posted to Nigeria retired to stupendous wealth; the Nigerian satraps who controlled power and resources also retired to astonishing wealth by 1999.

Naively, civilian Nigerians assumed that the Fourth Republic would be different. We were wrong.

The ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, started by the G-34 and led by the late Dr Alex Ekwueme, was hijacked by the military.

Retired General Obasanjo was imposed on Nigerians; and, unknown to us, the reign of wolves continued.

What happened in some states of the Niger Delta was replicated in several states of Nigeria.

One South-West state was badly hit. Civilian governors proceeded to establish opulent life-styles – which the worst colonial officer could not have imagined – irrespective of the party.

However, since the region under review is the Niger Delta – which included states from the South-East, South-South and South-West, this article will focus on that region; especially when a concerned son has asked a vital question – which needs to be answered urgently as the people of the region have another chance to liberate themselves from underserved perpetual backwardness and under-development.  Most Niger Deltans might not remember, and some might not care, but some of the nine governors in the Class of 1999-2007 were eventually charged with embezzlement of public funds.

Some of the second and third generations of governors were not much better.

When the All Progressives Congress, APC, took power in 2015, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, former Edo State governor and then-party leader, had announced openly: “Join the APC and your sins are forgiven”. Today, four former governors and some APC members have their files gathering dust in EFCC’s office. How did these happen?

 POLITICIANS, COURTS AND EFCC

Politicians, the courts and the EFCC have colluded to bring this situation about. Unfortunately, space constraints will not allow me to elaborate. But let me leave you with an astonishing true story from the past.

ALAMIEYESEIGHA FACES 39-COUNT CHARGE – VANGUARD, December 21, 2005

Below, without any elaboration for now, are the first 33 charges and the amounts involved. The remaining six will be dealt with in the second volume of this series.

1.    N1.5 billion converted to buy Chelsea Hotel, Abuja.

2.    N450 million to buy property on Plot 26, Bashir Dalhatu Close,  Abacha Estate, Ikoyi.

3.    N435 million to buy property at John Kadiya Close,  Asokoro, Abuja.

4.    N420 million to buy properties at 1, Community Road, off Allen Avenue, Ikeja.

5.    N1 billion to buy shares in Bond Bank, Lagos.

6.    Three million pounds transfer from Lagos to Barclays Bank Plc London.

7.    One hundred thousand pounds transfer from Lagos to the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

8.    Seventy million pounds transfer from Lagos to the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

9.    Fifty million pounds transfer from Lagos to the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

10. One hundred and twenty two thousand pounds transfer to the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

11. Seventy thousand pounds transfer to the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

12. One hundred and ninety eight thousand pounds transfer to the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

13. One hundred and twenty thousand pounds transfer to the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

14. One hundred thousand pounds transfer to Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

15. $250,000 transfer from Lagos to the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

16. Almost one hundred thousand pounds transfer to the National Westminster Bank, London, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

17. Almost eighty two thousand pounds transfer to National Westminster Bank of London

18. Almost twenty thousand pounds transfer to National Westminster Bank.

19. One hundred and thirty-six thousand pounds transfer to the National Westminster Bank.

20. Two hundred and seventy-five pounds transfer to the National Westminster Bank.

21. Two hundred and ninety-nine pounds to the National Westminster Bank.

22. Two hundred and four thousand pounds transfer to Barclays Bank Plc of London.

23. 175 million pounds transfer to London to purchase property.

24. 1.4 million pounds transfer to buy London property.

25. Converted 241 million pounds to buy London property

26. Converted 3 million pounds to buy property in London

27. Converted almost 476, 000 pounds to buy property in London.

28. Converted $409,761.24 to buy property in London.

29. Converted 1 million pounds to buy property in South Africa.

30. Converted N250 million to buy property at Ikoyi.

31. Transferred $160,000 to open account in US.

32. Transferred N35 million to Port Harcourt to buy property.

33. Had N105 million balances in personal account No 2010062850006 at Bond Bank Plc.

In my book, ‘PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED’, pages 269-270, these properties were estimated to be worth about N220 billion by 2009. Alamieyeseigha was not initially arrested in Nigeria; he was apprehended in the UK; charged to court and granted bail.

He jumped bail; returned to Nigeria and a hero’s welcome in Bayelsa State.

Need more evidence why Niger Delta is still undeveloped? There is more.