Poverty is a terrible condition, it is in fact a disease which I pray for no man to contact, but it is not a moral justification for violence. Leadership is a good position to aspire for, but it is not a license for corruption. Leadership is an opportunity to serve not to be served, until the leaders at every level of authority see leadership in this light, the system will not work efficiently. While the government and the oil companies have their own portion of the blame in this crisis, the people themselves are in some ways responsible for their own poverty. While I sympathise with any one experiencing one form of hardship or the other, I must say laziness is a contributing factor to the poverty experienced in this region. Some individuals there believe that even without working that their identity as Niger-Delta citizens should bring them some sort of royalty. This I disagree with. Hard work is the best antidote to poverty. Some have refused to get education, which is another safe guard against poverty. Laziness, lack of education and the get rich quick syndrome are the basic issues contributing to the high poverty rate in these communities. If this basic issues are tackled and the government with the collaboration of the oil companies play their own role I believe peace could actually be restore to the Niger-Delta.

Nigeria at this point as a Nation should not be considered a developing Nation, in fact I consider it as an insult for it to be so addressed, but several years of bad leadership and gross mismanagement of resources, have made a great Nation a sleeping giant. I foresee a generation of worthy men that will arise and shake up things and revive the great entity called Nigeria. The Story of the Niger-Delta people, is a story of a people languishing in poverty, who have decided to “take the bull by the horn”. The means by which some of its people deem fit to achieve their aim could be quite questionable. Some time ago they were the ones appealing (the beggars) to the government to come to their aid and do something about their degrading lands, now the reverse is the case, the government are now the ones appealing ( the new beggars) to them to lay down their weapons and come around for peaceful dialogue. Guess this is a “ Tale of the two beggars”. I once again state that violence is not the best solution to any crisis or grievance. The lesson from this story is quite clear and instructive, the issue of poverty in whatever form or in whichever part of the world concerns all of us, one of its most destructive and rather unfortunate traits is that it breeds violence, so as a people, we should try our best to do the little we can to help those in need in whatever society we find ourselves. Governments all over the world should also learn to address issues of their people immediately they arise , as any form of delay could actually worsen the situation, a stitch in time saves nine.