President Muhammadu Buhari hosted
stakeholders from the Niger Delta region at
the presidential villa in Abuja on Tuesday.
Speaking at the end of the meeting, Ibe
Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum,
said they had a frank conversation with the
President.
Below are 16 points which the elders
presented to the federal government president,
as part of efforts to restore peace to the
troubled region:
1. The presidential amnesty Programme: the
decry that out of the five components of the
disarmament and retrieval of weapons from
the ex-militants, only the disarmament and
demobilization component is being
implemented. Tensions over the fate of the
Niger Delta Amnesty Programme is as a result
of lack of genuine exit strategy. They want the
Programme reviewed to reappraise its core
mandate to provide a robust exist strategy, in
order to transit recipients into jobs, effectively
integrate them and few the of dependency on
stipends, so that their new-found skills would
be of benefit to themselves and larger
community.
2. Law and Justice issues: in view of the
insecurity situation in the Niger delta, a
number of pending law and justice issues
regarding some aggrieved groups and
individuals are yet to be resolved. It is
important to address these issues urgently as
a step towards lasting peace.
3. The effect of increased military presence in
the Niger Delta: the increased in military
presence has resulted in invasion of
communities, displacement of persons,
harassment and other firms of human rights
abuse. They want government to halt the the
escalation of tension in the region.
4. Plights of internally displaced persons: they
want relevant government agencies to take
urgent measures to meet their immediate
needs of those displaced by upsurge of
insecurity in the region.
5. The Ogoni clean-up and environmental
remediation: they want government to speed
up the exercise. They want government to
enforce zero gas flare deadline. They want the
devastating effects of coastal erosion and
lack of an effective shoreline protection for
the coastal communities tackled urgently.
They ask federal government to commission a
region-wide credible assessment of the
impacts of crude oil pollution of the
environment in the region and undertake to
enforce environmental laws.
6. The Maritime University Issue: want prompt
take off of the Niger Delta university
7. Key regional critical infrastructure: they
want completion of of East-West road, full
implementation of the rail project that is
designated to run through the Niger Delta
region to Lagos.
8. Security surveillance and protection of oil
and gas infrastructure. They want pipeline
surveillance contracts given to the
communities rather than individuals in a
manner that is some benefits to their
responsibility. Communities would the see
their responsibility over the pipelines as
protection of what belongs to them.
9. Relocation of Administrative and
Operational Headquarters of IOCs: the
headquarters of most oil companies are not
located in the Niger Delta Region. As a result
the region is denies all the developmental and
associated benefits that would have accrued
to the region from their presence. It has
therefore become imperative for the IOCs to
relocate to their areas of operation. This move
old create a mutually beneficial relationship
wi he host communities.
10. Power supply: they advocate a power plan
that strongly ties power supply in the region
to gas supplies, thereby giving all sides a
stake in proved stability.
11. Economic development and empowerment:
they want Brass LNG and fertiliser plant
project including the Train 7 implemented,
reviewing and updating the national gas
master plan to integrate the economic
interests and industrialization of the region,
creating a Niger Dekta industrial corridor that
would process some portions of th
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