Niger Delta leaders who met President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday for peace talks presented a 16- point request which highlighted a number of issues considered as “quick wins” for restoring hope and confidence in the oil-rich region.
The leaders and stakeholders of the Niger Delta Region were led by Chief Edwin Clark, a former minister. They put across to the President issues for dialogue, for which they demanded a composite government committee.
The issues included, among others, the completion of major road projects in the region, the take-off of the maritime university, the full activation of ports in Niger Delta and other water ways, the relocation of international oil companies to the region. Others matters include the issuance of oil blocks to the states and other stakeholders, as well as the strengthening of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. They also broached the issue of fiscal federalism.
They also asked for the cleaning up of other communities affected by oil spills in the region, besides Ogoniland. They further requested for a review of the amnesty programme to reappraise its core mandate of providing a robust exist strategy that would ensure those trained have jobs to return to or be given stipends, so that their new-found skills would be of benefit to themselves and the larger community.
President Buhari said however that there were no quick fixes to the agitations in the Niger Delta, indicating his intentions to dig into the root causes of the crisis in order to bring a lasting solution.
The President said the service chiefs were putting together their own assessment of the militancy situation, saying “when I have these reports, including this one (just presented), we will revisit the situation (in the region) to ensure that we succeed this time.”
He however cautioned the leaders of the Delta that they had more to do than anyone else to bring peace to the region, given the influence they have on militant groups.
At a press conference after the closed door meeting, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu ,minister of State for Petroleum said the meeting which was attended by over a hundred representatives from the region was the first of several meetings which would now hold quarterly in different states in the region, adding that enough thoughts were exchanged to go back to the drawing board. Kachikwu noted that the dialogue had already begun to yield results, as daily oil production had reached 2.1million barrels.
Kachikwu briefed alongside alongside the minister of Niger Delta, Usani Usani, Edwin Clarke, King Alfred Diette Spiff, the Amayanabo of Twon-Brass and Francis Tabai a retired justice.
“What that means is that it is going to be an ongoing engagement. It will never finish. The Ministry of Petroleum is continuing a quarterly meeting involving the oil companies who fairly beaten up today and the governors and the stakeholders, which will happen once every three months.
“The first one is going to happen in Uyo in December and we are going to rotate that between the states so that we will have a platform irrespective of the negotiation that’s going on to deal with the issues.
“The reality is that as of today, we are at 2.1 million barrels production. That’s substantial. That would not have happened without efforts that went behind through the royal fathers and leaders, through the militant leaders. A lot of behind-the-scene engagements had taken place and will continue to take place” he said.
The oil minister said the President in response to the requests of the groups declared that there was no quick solution to the problems as he would prefer to go into the roots of why the problem in the Niger Delta region has persisted.
“He wants to dig in and find a final solution,” Kachikwu added.
Clark who spoke on behalf of the group said the President received the document and “will now set the ball rolling with the Minister assisting him. Then we will appoint a very capable team of experts to negotiate on our behalf”. He said the issue of the maritime university was resolved out during the meeting.
The group in the document which was presented to the President by King Spiff asked for economic development and empowerment, calling for the implementation of the Brass LNG and fertiliser plant project, including the NLNG Train 7 in Bonny, a review and update of the national gas master plan to integrate the economic interests and industrialisation of the region, amongst others.
Their requests also bordered on inclusive participation in oil industry and ownership of oil blocs: A fast track of key regional critical infrastructure in the region, including the East-West road, full implementation of the rail project that is designated to run through the Niger Delta region to Lagos.
Issues relating to law and justice , especially as relates to the insecurity situation in the Niger Delta: The issue of increased military presence in the Niger Delta which has resulted in the invasion of communities, displacement of persons, harassment and other forms of human rights abuses. They asked the government to halt the escalation of tension in the region by withdrawing the military from the occupied communities.
Plights of internally displaced persons in the region: The prompt take off of Maritime University: They demanded that contracts for the Security surveillance and protection of oil and gas infrastructure should be handled by communities rather than individuals as the communities would the see their responsibility over the pipelines as protection of what belongs to them.
They advocated for a power plan that strongly ties power supply in the region to gas supplies, thereby giving all sides a stake in providing stability: Restructuring and funding of the Niger Delta Development. Commission(NDDC);Strengthening the Niger Delta Ministry through adequate funding.
The leaders also supported the call for fiscal federalism and urged the federal government to treat the matter expeditiously.
