Niger Delta leaders have
asked President Muhammadu Buhari to allocate oil blocks to natives of the
region as a means of ending militancy in the area.
Media
report continues:
The
leaders of the oil-rich region, who were led by Edwin Clark and Alfred
Diette-Spiff, made this demand when they met with the president in Abuja on
Tuesday.
They
made 16 demands which include, “the allocation of oil blocks to Niger
Delta natives so as to grant them inclusive participation in the oil
industry, the end of the militarization of the region, review of the amnesty
programme, proper funding of the Niger Delta Development Commission, stopping
gas flaring, and returning the headquarters of oil companies to the region to
stimulate development.”
Speaking
with state house correspondents at the end of the meeting, Spiff said with the
16 points “quick wins can be achieved and can restore hope and confidence in a
region that has grown sceptical of dialogue and engagements that have hardly
produced tangible results.” ,
“The
16 points raised included infrastructural development, manpower, human
resources and development and of course, welfare of the people. These are the
main things,” he said.
“Relocation
of the oil companies. One of those things that we pointed out is that these
IOCs have their headquarters somewhere in Lekki or Abuja. Even their
operational headquarters are not in their area of operation. So, they are very
divorced from the whole activity. This is not right because even the pay as you
earn tax is not coming to the region. The workers, nobody is engaged locally
there. They just come and harvest and go away. In fact one of two of the French
companies there fly in people from abroad and the next crew goes on board the
next flight going out. It’s as serious as that. Since it’s a federal government
controlled thing we cannot do very much, so we have to appeal to the federal to
see that this thing is stopped.
“The
presence of the military of course, you know has been agitating the boys. That
too we said should be reversed. We don’t want to see the place militarized.
“Then
you have the university issue which has been resolved. Oron has been there in
the last 18 years, it’s going to be made a degree awarding institution. You
also have situations where most of our ports, the estuaries are silted. You
know cocoa for instance, ships can’t get in there. Escravos have been silted.
You have Burutu, Warri, and all those ports. So, they need to be dredged and
kept passable. We also have situations where the youths who have dropped their
arms and demilitarized are now being sent on training and they come back and
they have no jobs. What are you pushing them to use their new skills and go
back to the creeks? No. So, the engagement is to make sure that they either
form into cooperatives to do farming or fishing or doing something gainful.
“So,
we really need to engage the youths who have been trained by the amnesty
programme. In addition, the Ogoni situation for instance, is one of many. So, while
they are doing the cleanup in Ogoni, this should be extended to other parts of
the Niger delta.
“And,
water supply is very essential because the United Nations environment programme
has declared that the water is unfit for human consumption. So, all these are
things which add up to what makes the people of the Niger delta. Although the
laugh and act and smile. Beneath that frown and smile, they are wearing a
frown. So, that is the situation. They are really feeling cheated and
short-changed. These are what have been pointed out. The federal government
should bring out a key, to go there, have a look see, confirm all that we are
saying and see that things are addressed. And they are minor issues that can be
done just by the red pen of the president.”
Also,
speaking with journalists, Ibe kachickwu, minister of state for petroleum, who
brokered the meeting, explained why militant leaders were absent.
He
said militant leaders were not invited because Buhari wanted to hear from
their elder who they were and how to locate the root causes of problem the
before taking further action.
The
minister said with the dialogue crude oil production had risen to as high as
2.1 million barrels, “largely as a result of preliminary negotiations and
scaling down of hostilities by militants in the Niger Delta.
On
his part, the president promised to study the demands and to cooperate with
them in ending the environmental and economic sabotage of the region.
However,
he added that their demands did not require quick solutions, but that they
needed lasting solutions.
FULL LIST: The 16
Demands Niger Delta Elders Made From Buhari
TheCable
reports that 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:
- The Presidential Amnesty Programme: they 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The Maritime University Issue: want prompt take off of the Niger Delta Maritime University
- Key regional critical infrastructure: they want completion of East-West road, full implementation of the rail project that is designated to run through the Niger Delta region to Lagos.
- 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.
- 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 witht he host communities.
- 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.
- Economic development and empowerment: they want Brass LNG and fertilizer 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 Delta industrial corridor that would process some portions of the bat hydrocarbon natural resources, expediting work on the export processing zones, harnessing the huge rain-fed agricultural potentials of the area through the development of farms estates, fishery development projects and Agro-Allied industrial clusters etc.
- Inclusive participation in oil industry and ownership of oil blocs. They want the federal government to enunciate policies and actions that will address the lack of participation as well as imbalance in the ownership of oil and gas assets.
- Restructuring and funding of the NDDC: The restructuring will ensure it refocuses as a true interventionist agency to respond swiftly to the yearnings of the grassroots of the Niger Delta. Communities must be able to have a say in what projects come to them and also want full implementation of the funding provisions of the NDDC Act.
- Strengthening the Niger Delta Ministry: they say the era of abysmal funding should end. The ministry should be adequately funded and strengthen to fulfill the purpose for which it was created.
- The Bakassi Question, recommend a comprehensive resettlement plan including development for the host communities and displaced population to reduce the risk of making them into a stateless people.
- Fiscal federalism, the region supports the call for true federalism and urged that federal government should treat the matter expeditiously.
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