Bonny Island And The Rest Of Us, By Tony Osborg

There is a place in Rivers State called Bonny Island. Bonny Island is one of the most secured Islands in the world, it is also one of the richest Island in Africa (if not the richest). Bonny Island is made up of two communities; Bonny and Finima.


The two communities that make up the Island have 24/7 uninterrupted power supply. They have had it like that for more than a decade. Bonny  Island alone, contributes more money to the federal government  revenue than seven states combined together. Bonny Island is a host to one of the world's largest Liquified Natural Gas plant.

Bonny Island has a beach, an airport, a world class jetty, and I hear there is an ongoing federal petroleum polytechnic. The Island has the lowest level of unemployment in Nigeria. Above 75% of the population of the Island's residents are employed.

The two communities that make up the Island have a centralized water system. It means you don't have to drill your own borehole. The Nigerian Police officers on the Island are more professional than the Police officers you know in Nigeria. The internal security arrangement is excellent, there is 24/7 air, water and land security surveilance system

Bonny Island residents enjoy one of the best public health care system in Nigeria. The same thing applies to public schools on the Island.

On the average, most residents of the Island earn more money than most residents in the rest of Nigeria.

The residential area (where the staff of multinationals stay) is the most organized city I have ever visited in Nigeria. It is far more organized than Abuja. For example, in the residential area, people are not allowed to use personal gas cylinders or stoves to cook. There is a centralized gas system that connects cooking gas to every house. The air conditioning system is also centralized. And many others.

Visitors to this particular area are issued an ID (a sort of visa) that states the number of days you are expected to stay in the city. If you stay above your stipulated timeframe, you will likely be arrested and 'deported' and whoever invited you to the area will be queried for breaching the security. In essence, their security is excellent.

On the Island, what a waiter gets as monthly salary is equivalent to what some university lecturers get as monthly salary. A primary school teacher that works directly for the company  there likely earns more money than a PhD lecturer that works for the federal government of Nigeria.

Bonny does not have enough land so they import even vegetables from other parts of the state. Life is quite expensive too. During construction of the first phase of the LNG plant, the company had to relocate an entire community from their aboriginal location to a new location. In this new location, the company built brand new houses for every family that was relocated.

Most of the natural gas which is sold to the world from Bonny Island is not extracted from Bonny Island. It is extracted from the entire Niger Delta states. Bonny is the terminal where the gas is loaded and exported.

Let me stop here.

Note that there is little government presence in all the things I have listed above. None of the things mentioned above were done by any tier of government.

The reason why Bonny Island is a near paradise is because NLNG (managed by the private sector) and the community are fully in charge of the Island, from security to education, to job creation, and you name it.

Despite the fact that Bonny Island contributes heavily to Nigeria's revenue and economy, the Island would have become like every other oil community if not for the fact that the company had no choice than to integrate the community into its own operational community. A threat to any part of the Island is a threat to NLNG multibillion dollar facilities. The company had no choice than to secure the entire Island and integrate the local communities into its own operational community.

If an Island in Nigeria could be so organized under private management, have you wondered why the Nigerian government is unable to manage even one single public city in Nigeria?

Think!