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Guest columnists
Edward Perekebina Agbai, and Ebini Zinipiri-Egule
To understand the Ijaw heartland’s peril and promise, one must wade into the deep currents of Ijaw history, a saga as timeless as the Niger River itself. The Ijaw (or Izon), numbering over 14 million today, are among the world’s most ancient peoples, their roots tracing back to 800 BCE in the labyrinthine swamps of the Niger Delta. Descended from the Oru, the aboriginal water-folk of West Africa, they settled the central Delta’s Wilberforce Island around the 7th century AD, establishing Agadagba-Bou as their first city-state—a hub of fishing, trade, and kinship clans that wove the fabric of Ijaw society. Here, villages governed by elders (Amaokosowei) balanced communal harmony with the rhythms of the sea, their nine Ijaw languages from Nembe to Kolokuma echoing myths of Prince Ijo, the legendary guardian of coastal waterways.
For millennia, the Ijaw thrived as custodians of this aquatic realm, their canoes linking trade routes from Sierra Leone to Gabon. But colonialism upended this equilibrium. The British Oil Rivers Protectorate (1885–1893), expanded into the Niger Coast Protectorate, imposed foreign rule on a mosaic of Ijaw clans, the largest ethnic group in the Delta, spanning present-day Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Ondo, and beyond. Amalgamated into Nigeria in 1914, the Ijaw became “ethnic minorities” in a federation skewed toward the Hausa-Fulani North and Yoruba West, their voices drowned in the roar of emerging nationalism.
The discovery of oil at Oloibiri in 1956 in what is now Bayelsa, ignited the powder keg. This black gold, gushing from Ijaw soil, propelled Nigeria to Africa’s oil giant status, fueling 90% of export revenues by the 1970s. Yet, for the Ijaw, it brought a “resource curse”: gas flares scorching the night sky since 1964, spills despoiling fisheries, and a revenue formula that funneled trillions to Abuja while leaving Delta communities in abject neglect. Over 150 flare sites belch toxins, rendering farmlands barren and waters toxic—a slow-motion ecocide that has claimed livelihoods and lives. The Ijaw, once self-sufficient fishers and farmers, now grapple with poverty rates exceeding 40%, youth restiveness, and health crises from polluted streams.
This paradox of wealth beneath the feet, and want above, birthed a political economy of marginalization. The 13% derivation fund, a paltry concession from the 1990s, trickles back corrupted, with Bayelsa receiving billions yet ranking among Nigeria’s poorest states. Promises of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), established in 2000, evaporate into unfinished roads and ghost projects, mired in graft. As one Oloibiri elder laments, “Our oil built Lagos skyscrapers, but our children drink from poisoned creeks.”
The Ijaw’s fight for equity blazed through visionary leaders. Chief Harold Dappa-Biriye (1919–2005), a diplomatic titan, laid the intellectual foundation for self-determination. Through the Rivers Chiefs and People’s Conference, he demanded a Rivers Province at the 1957 London Constitutional Conference, advocating resource control and autonomy to shield Ijaw interests from majority tyranny. His Ijaw People’s League pressed the 1958 Willink Commission to recognize the Delta’s marginalization, planting seeds for statehood. Dappa-Biriye’s call for a political economy where Ijaw resources served the Ijaw people galvanized future agitation.
Isaac Adaka Boro (1938–1968) took up the torch with militant fervor, declaring the “Niger Delta Republic” in 1966 with 159 fighters, decrying “genocide” through environmental ruin and economic plunder. His cry of “total control of our land and resources” inspired the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) and the 1998 Kaiama Declaration, demanding resource ownership. Chief Melford Okilo (1929–2005), first elected governor of old Rivers State (1979–1983), built on Dappa-Biriye’s advocacy, pushing COR State (Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers) demands for Delta autonomy. King Alfred Diete-Spiff, Rivers’ military governor (1968–1975), laid infrastructural foundations, amplifying Ijaw pride.
In the 1990s, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark (1923–2024), the “Nelson Mandela of the Delta,” escalated the fight, demanding equity. Their collective efforts, channeled through the advocacy of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), bore fruit on October 1, 1996, when General Sani Abacha created Bayelsa State. This was not merely the creation of a sub-national unit; it was intended to be a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)—the socio-economic and political nucleus of the Ijaw ethnic nation. As the only homogeneous Ijaw state, Bayelsa was conceived to be the sanctuary for the Ijaw nation’s right to self-determination and resource control. Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (1952–2015), the “Governor-General of the Ijaw Nation,” became its first civilian governor in 1999, championing unity and resource justice. As Prof. Steve Azaiki eulogized, Alamieyeseigha “became a sacrifice so that his people could have a voice.” These heroes envisioned Bayelsa as the Ijaw’s sovereign fulcrum, where oil wealth would remediate the land and secure true federalism for all Ijaw clans.
Yet, Bayelsa remains a shadow of that vision. Spanning 10,773 square kilometers of swamps and creeks, it boasts 40% of Nigeria’s onshore oil and 18 trillion cubic feet of gas—the largest reserve in the land. However, the promise of Bayelsa as an SPV for the Ijaw nation has faltered due to a profound lack of synergy and consolidation between the national leadership of the Ijaw nation (the INC) and the political leadership of Bayelsa State. Rather than acting as a unified engine for the 14 million Ijaws spread across the Niger Delta, the state and the Congress have often operated in silos, diluting their collective bargaining power within the Nigerian federation.
Since 1996, nine governors have promised glory, but volatility reigns: short tenures, impeachments, and corruption scandals erode trust. The NDDC’s interventions meant to heal the Delta falter at 34% completion rates, awards bypassing due process. Bayelsa, the Ijaw homeland, was meant to rally the INC for resource control, mend intra-ethnic rifts, and model green prosperity. Instead, it mirrors the federation’s flaws. As Clark warned, without equity and internal cohesion, the Delta’s minorities risk erasure.
For decades, the historical Ijaw struggle has largely focused on wresting political control over resources from the federal centre. While this pursuit is morally justified, it has produced diminishing returns, leading to cyclical agitation, conflict, and dependency. The political economy approach keeps the Ijaw nation perpetually tethered to the whims of Abuja and the stability of global oil prices, trapping the region in a vicious cycle of rent-seeking and dependence that breeds corruption.
Prof. Steve Azaiki, with a penetrating insight honed through global scholarship and local struggle, recognizes this flaw. For the Ijaw nation, he opines that true self-determination cannot be perpetually sought only through political agitation or constitutional amendments; it must be built through the attainment of economic sovereignty brought about by community wealth building, skills acquisition, and infrastructure to secure sovereignty from within. Political influence and social justice become the inevitable consequence of economic strength.
This epiphany drove Prof. Azaiki to convene the first-ever Pan-Ijaw Pre-Economic Summit in October 2024, partnering with the INC to rally governors, traditional rulers, thought leaders, policy experts, and stakeholders under a singular vision: economic resilience as the bedrock of Ijaw emancipation. “We must shift from begging for scraps to creating our own wealth,” Azaiki declared, redefining self-determination as economic empowerment, not just political leverage.
This pivot echoes Dappa-Biriye’s early calls for resource control, but Azaiki reframes it for the 21st century: control not through protest alone, but through markets, innovation, and global integration. The Pre-Summit’s blueprints for agro-exports, tech hubs, and green energy signal a departure from oil dependency, aiming to transform Bayelsa and Ijawland into a self-sustaining economic powerhouse, much like Singapore’s ascent from post-colonial poverty to global hub.
By shifting the focus to internal economic generation and diversification, Azaiki is designing a strategy that insulates the Ijaw nation from the chronic volatility of federal politics and the historical pattern of resource expropriation. Economic self-reliance through sustainable industries (like the blue economy) provides the ultimate resilience buffer against the very laws that nationalized their resources in the first place.
Before Bayelsa can rise as the true nucleus of the Ijaw nation, the Ijaw struggle must bridge the gap between national advocacy and state governance. This requires an INC presidency capable of establishing a clear 10-year roadmap of collaboration between the Ijaw National Congress and the Bayelsa State Government. With 14 million people fragmented across six states, the Ijaw’s demographic weight is currently diluted. The INC was created to forge a political bloc, but it needs a leader who can unify the “homogeneous” heartland with the “dispersed” clans.
In what many might casually opine as an act of divine providence, the INC elections that were earlier scheduled were suspended, seemingly creating a strategic window of opportunity for a transformative figure to step forward. This pause in the electoral cycle provides the perfect opening for Prof. Steve Azaiki to join the race. This strategic rationale dictates that Prof. Steve Azaiki should consider picking up the interest form to run for President of the INC. His 2024 Pre-Summit showcased his ability to unite clans and rally stakeholders for economic blueprints. As INC President, Azaiki would be uniquely positioned to end the era of friction and replace it with a synergy that transforms Bayelsa into a demonstration model for the entire Ijaw nation. He represents the “promise” of an INC presidency that can strengthen the polity between Bayelsa State and the homogeneous Ijaw LGAs spread across the Niger Delta—from Ondo to Akwa Ibom.
An Azaiki-led INC would champion the “ownership” of Bayelsa State by all Ijaws, irrespective of their clan of origin. If Bayelsa is the only homogeneous Ijaw state, it must be the “Jerusalem” of every Ijaw person; its domestic affairs and economic success must be a matter of interest for all. Azaiki’s global networks, from WCCES to GOPAC, would be leveraged to secure Ijaw quotas in 2027 polls and push for true federalism, ensuring Bayelsa’s gubernatorial engine roars with the unified backing of the 25 INC chapters. The effective leadership of the INC is the crucial first step in a sequence: INC Consolidation must lead to Technocratic Governance, which must lead to Economic Success, ultimately resulting in indelible National Political Influence.
Prof. Steve Azaiki is a Yenagoa-born polymath whose journey mirrors the Ijaw ascent he seeks to ignite. With PhDs in Crop Science (Ukraine) and Public Administration, and professorships in Agronomy and Plant Protection, he is a technocrat rooted in action. He helped birth Bayelsa in 1996 and served as the pioneer Commissioner for Agriculture. His global advocacy elevates Ijaw voices through the International Society for Comparative Education, Science and Technology (ISCEST), World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES), and Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC). His tributes to the “symbols of our struggle”—Dappa-Biriye, Boro, Clark, and Alamieyeseigha—weave fealty into unity. His Azaiki Public Library in Yenagoa empowers Ijaw youth, a “monumental embodiment” of progress.
Prof. Azaiki possesses a rare profile as an academic, public intellectual, and global institution-builder. His experience with the World Bank/IMF Parliamentary Network provides crucial expertise in global financial mechanisms—knowledge essential for maximizing the utilization of the 13 percent derivation funds. His influence within academic spheres like WCCES underscores his commitment to equity in knowledge production, insisting that Africa must emerge as a producer of “new intellectual cartographies.”
Azaiki’s career demonstrates a capacity for institutional creation and deep administrative implementation. Serving twice as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in Bayelsa, he played a pivotal role in human capital development. His work with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) implemented nationwide skills acquisition programs, laying a foundation for structured youth empowerment. This dual exposure provides a holistic understanding of policy generation and the bureaucratic realities of implementation.
Decades of drift demand redemption. Azaiki’s 2019 “Azaiki Plan” to create 100,000 jobs, amplified by the 2024 Pre-Summit, underpins his conviction: “Economic transformation and sustainable development of Bayelsa – and Ijawland – can be attained within 10 years.” He draws inspiration from Singapore, which vaulted to global prominence through industrialization and human capital, proving that small, focused regions can birth giants.
Azaiki’s 10-Year Ijaw Renaissance Roadmap (2027–2037), midwifed through an INC presidency in a forged alliance with the political leadership of Bayelsa State, fuses Dappa-Biriye’s resource control with Boro’s justice. Benchmarked against Singapore’s disciplined ascent, this sequenced plan seeks to reclaim lost decades through economic determinism.
A. Pillar 1: Ecological Sovereignty and The Blue Economy
The cornerstone is the sustainable monetization and protection of the Ijaw environment. Action points include securing $2 billion in FDI for spill cleanups, hiking community shares to 10%, and converting flare sites to gas-to-power plants. This transforms creeks into assets, professionalizing maritime trade and fisheries to generate non-oil revenue.
B. Pillar 2: Human Capital Revolution and the Knowledge Economy
Leveraging Azaiki’s global academic connections, the plan involves overhauling tertiary education to specialize in environmental science, renewable energy, and data analytics. A massive commitment to TVET will produce skilled manpower, grooming 50,000 Ijaw innovators for global C-suites.
C. Pillar 3: Infrastructure and Connectivity (Green Commutes & Energy Reset)
Adapting Singapore’s ‘Green Commutes’ philosophy to water travel, the plan prioritizes a comprehensive inter-coastal transport network. Simultaneously, the Energy Reset focuses on decentralized solar, tidal, and mini-grids to power communities and SMEs, breaking the reliance on an unreliable national grid.
D. Pillar 4: Fiscal Sovereignty and Institutional Integrity
The final pillar aims to reduce reliance on FAAC allocations by driving growth in IGR and establishing anti-corruption structures immune to political manipulation. Using technological solutions to eliminate fund diversion, the move will be toward fiscal transparency, ensuring long-term goals survive electoral cycles.
This roadmap, sparked by Azaiki’s economic determinism, hopes to rectify decades of drift, turning Bayelsa into the Ijaw miracle’s cradle.
Bayelsa was forged for greatness as the Ijaw’s bastion against erasure, where resources serve stewards, not exploiters. Without Azaiki’s vision – intellect honed in Ukraine, advocacy tempered in Abuja, heart rooted in Ijawland – it risks another lost decade. He has the track record, the ideas, and the charisma needed to take Izon-ibe forward. His INC presidency is the bridge the nation has waited for.
As the Atlantic whispers to the mangroves, Prof. Steve Azaiki, the Ijaw nation, from Kaiama to the diaspora, summons you. Pick up the interest form, lead the INC, and ignite the renaissance our ancestors dreamed of. The glory of all lands awaits not in oil’s gleam, but in the justice and synergy of a unified people.
• Professor Edward Perekebina Agbai is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change, and Dean, Dept of Management and Entrepreneurship, Emmanuel University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
• Ebini Zinipiri-Egule is Director of Research & Documentation, Statecraft Communications & Global Partners Ltd.
