Traditional rulers urges transparency, collaboration

Traditional rulers under the umbrella of Traditional Rulers of Oil and Mineral Producing Communities (TROMPCOM) have said transparency and collaboration between oil multinationals, government agencies and local communities can foster peace and development in the Niger Delta region.

This was the consensus at a recent training programme facilitated by the Community and Rural Development (CRD) Directorate of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The programme, which was held simultaneously in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states, brought together traditional rulers from Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom states and will be in the nine states under NDDC.

Speaking at the event, themed: “Capacity building on emerging trends in rural governance” one of the participants and traditional rulers of Kerike Kingdom in Rivers State, Air Commodore Tansiki Ogube(retd) said the lack of transparency and collaboration has led to conflicts in the region.

He lamented that the oil companies are not dealing with the traditional rulers, but rather with people perceived to be violent, especially those who do not have the interested of the development of the community.

The King emphasised that the traditional rulers are not against development, insisting that they should be carried along in the decision-making process.

“The service providers come into a community, select a few people, and recognize them as the board of directors without discussing with the traditional rulers.

“We are not against development, but we want to be part of the decision-making process.”

TROMPCOM chairman in Bayelsa State, Dr. Toboro Andy Godwill, emphasised that collaboration is key to fostering peace in the region.

He noted that the traditional institution and the government must work together to ensure that developmental projects are implemented without hoarding information.

“Today’s leadership is based on development, and development will come from governmental and industrialization.

“If those who are providing development in the community are open-minded, as we are doing here, let there be a collaboration between the traditional institution and the government,” he said.

Stanley Okereke, resource person at the training programme, stressed the critical role of traditional rulers in building sustainable peace.

Okereke noted that the traditional rulers have a critical role to play in promoting peace and development in their communities.

“With sustainable peace, there won’t be sustainable development, and so they have a very huge amount of work to do at the community level.

“They must have these peaceful dispositions and then try to mainstream peace across every stakeholder in the community,” he said.

Another resource person, Dr. Carol Ebuta, in her paper titled: “Entrenching peace, progress and stability in the Niger Delta through engagement with traditional institutions” urged traditional rulers to capitalise on trust and moral authority.

She implored them to build the ability to facilitate Communication between their community and government and nurture the capacity for promoting social unity.

She noted that these strengths, saying if well harnessed, will allow traditional rulers play a vital role in community cohesion, cultural preservation and development.