A former Publisher of Newswatch, Mr Ray Ekpu, says the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria 61 years ago in the old Rivers State is the root of the country’s main problem.
He said this known while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast show Sunrise Daily, two days after the nation marked its 57th Independence anniversary.
“In 1956, we had a good fortune or so we thought, of discovering oil in Oloibiri, present day Bayelsa State and two years later (1958), we started exporting oil.
“I think that is where we started courting trouble because we had easy money. We had some white people who came to dig the ground, bring the oil and sell it for us and we did nothing after that.”
The veteran journalist, who observed that Nigeria has an advantage when compared to other countries rich in both natural and human resources, called for the revival of agriculture.
He said, “We still have so much (resources). There are not many countries in the world that are as rich in mineral resources, solid and liquid and manpower as Nigeria.
“If I take a historical approach to our trajectory as a country, I will say in the immediate pre-independence period, we were self-sufficient and we only relied on agriculture.
“We fed ourselves, we even exported cotton, cocoa, palm oil, kernel, rubber and so on. We employed 80 percent of our population.”
Unfortunately, the good times during which General Yakubu Gowon as head of state “had to pay salaries for workers in the Caribbean” didn’t last according to Mr Ekpu.
“Today, we are looking for who will pay salaries to our own staff,” he said.
“About 13 states cannot pay the salaries of their staff and the pension benefits of their retirees. So that is the irony of our situation,” lamenting that the nation has spurned the sector.”
The former Newswatch boss wondered why issues of agitation would arise across the polity considering the large deposits of resources.
