There is oil in my backyard. No, this oil is not the agricultural type that is extracted from the palm tree or from other plant-based source, but the crude type that is pumped out from deep inside the earth, be it on land (onshore) or below the sea (offshore). As for my backyard, it is that ancestral place in the Niger Delta I call home, wherein my ancestors before me dwelled all through the ages and had handed over as an ecological heritage to their descendants, with the intent being to preserve it (as they had done in their time) for this present and the unborn generations to come.

There is oil in my backyard but I'm told that it's not mine or that I can lay claim to it. Strange! And for that reason, I don't have the right to extract or refine it without first seeking permission from its supposed owner, the government, who incidentally live very far away from my backyard. But how is this possible I had asked? "By legislation" I was told, which also empowers the government as owner to invade my backyard, should I resist, with their fiery array of armies armed with sophisticated weapons financed from the same oil money earned through royalties and taxes from my backyard. What a pity!

There is oil in my backyard, yet I am not super rich! Ironically, I live like a pauper when compared to the billionaires who have been made rich by oil. I can hardly eat two square meals a day just as I struggle to sponsor my wards to even the cheapest schools. But I'm told of how billions (not in naira but in dollars) are earned daily from the oil in my backyard. I'm also told how this oil has created opportunities for wealth creation and has changed the fortunes of many. Meanwhile, I that dwell in close proximity to the oil haven't seen my fortunes turned around for good as I gloat endlessly in pain and in neglect.

There is oil in my backyard but I don't own the oil companies or the oil wells. Instead, I'm branded as a host that can only watch. And watch I did but in awe, despite my academic qualifications, as I have been reduced to an errand labourer rather than being engaged as a full time staff of oil companies that rake in huge profits from the oil industry. Before now when I apply I was told by my illiteracy I wasn't qualified but now that I've earned the required certificates they ignore me. The best the oil companies could do is make me a contractor for petty projects. And through their play of the politics of divide and rule, I watch as the minds of my folks have become infested with greed and selfishness, betraying me for the crumbs of bread that fall off the table of these oil companies and those who claim ownership of the oil, to my hurt.

There is oil in my backyard but it's existence is more of a curse than the blessing it should be. Constantly, it has polluted and it's still polluting the ecological habitat of my backyard through the acts of spills, pipeline vandalism, poor local refining, actions of dumping of its confiscated by-products into the aquatic environment by security operatives, etc. And worst of all, oil has become a tool that has been used to cause disunity. I watch as my folks yield to their ploy, segregating themselves in the identity of host and non-host, even though we all bear the brunt of the consequences of oil majorly through the acts of pollution that contribute to diminishing our livelihood—the sole occupation of fishing—thereby increasing our state of poverty and exposure to diverse sickness, all of which shorten our lifespan.

There is oil in my backyard yet my home remains in its poor state of ancient civilization. There are no modern infrastructures in it that benefit the status of an oil-producing or host: no portable water, no connection to the national power grid, no bridges/roads to ease the cost of water transportation, no well equipped hospital or healthcare facilities, no standard learning facilities like libraries and laboratories, poor communication facilities, poor housing, no international airport, no financial houses, no sea walls to protect my backyard against erosion, and so on and so forth. All that the acclaimed owner of the oil do is suck my backyard dry with no concern for my welfare or the poor state of my living.

There is oil in my backyard but I don't get to buy it very cheap as a host but very expensive, even more costly than those who don't have a single drop of it in their backyard. There are days I search for its by-products to no avail. In the toughest of days I have to resort to firewood as a source of heat for food and warmth while the environmental agency keeps warning me on the dangers of deforestation but without providing a remedy to my situation. Yes, because of my poor state I do frequent the local oil refinery market at times for its substandard cheap products, endangering my life in the process but taking my chances. Where the so-called owner cannot provide it abundantly and at affordable prices, what options do I have?

There is oil in my backyard but its popularity has also made my backyard unpopular, for the wrong reasons too. My backyard didn't choose this oil, rather it was bestowed upon it by mother nature. Even in the days of my ancestors it has been there, untapped in its commercial quantity. But as time went by, with the advancement in technology this oil became an energy source globally. This dependence increased its demand leading to its commercialization, causing many to migrate to my backyard. But as many trooped in, other occupations also surfaced in their bid to get their own piece of the pie. And so there arose kidnappers, sea pirates, pipe vandals, bunkers, militants, cultist, prostitutes. . . All of these in no distant time resulted in mass corruption, pollution, insecurity, agitations (violent and nonviolent), sabotage, blackmail, etc. 

There is oil in my backyard but it has stolen my freedom as I'm no longer independent but now dependent more than ever before. I now rely on oil to prepare my food, to light up my home, to travel from place to place across the globe, to get a well-paid-job, to build the most befitting house, to send my children to the best schools at home and abroad, to communicate electronically, to become rich quickly, and to even stay healthy through intake of certain medicinal drugs, etc.  And so, life has gradually become harder disguised in the comfortability that oil acclaims to offer—for in its scarcity, I and the others are in turmoil.

There is oil in my backyard but most importantly my backyard shouldn't be destroyed because of oil as its existence predates the discovery of oil which will someday cease to flow, but not my backyard which shouldn't become inhabitable today and tomorrow. As is commonly said: "To whom much is given, much is expected." For that reason, my backyard in giving much should receive much in return too. It should be compensated as the Golden Goose that lays the golden egg; anything short of this is a great evil. But is that the case?

#mypublicdiscourse