Follow Us on Google
• Stakeholders demand oil blocs, 15 others
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday restated his commitment to tackle the nation’s problems, even as he said any Nigerian who has another country to relocate to was free to do so.
The president who spoke while addressing Niger Delta stakeholders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, challenged the Niger Delta elders to halt the bombings of oil facilities.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari told the leaders of the region that they had more to do than anyone else to bring peace to the region, given the influence they have on militant groups.
He expressed the determination of his administration to stay focused on its key campaign promises of securing the country, fighting corruption and creating jobs through the improvement of the economy.
He said peace, security, investment and prosperity are linked together, adding: “If we give peace a chance, investors will come here to invest. Nobody will invest in an insecure environment.”
Buhari said the problems his administration inherited were many, as illustrated in the collapse of oil prices, inability of 27 of the 36 states to pay salaries, absence of savings to fall back on and having to deal with an elite who did not seem to care.
All these, he said, made his government to conclude that, “life as usual is no longer affordable.”
As part of measures to end the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta and increase oil production, the stakeholders led by Chief Edwin Clark and King Alfred Diette-Spiff, presented a 16-point demand which included allottment of oil blocs to Niger Delta indigenes, proper funding of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), stoppage of gas flaring, return of oil companies headquarters to the region among others.
Diette-Spiff, who presented the demands on behalf of the stakeholders, said with the 16-point demand, “quick wins can be achieved and can restore hope and confidence in a region that has grown skeptical of dialogue and engagements that have hardly produced tangible results.”
However, known leaders of the various militants groups and representatives of the international oil companies (IOCs) were also absent at the meeting brokered by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
Clark told State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, which lasted about two-hours, that the militants leaders were not invited because Buhari wanted to first hear from the elders, who came on the platform of Pan Niger Delta Forum, to find the root causes before taking further action.
The demands also included sustenance and proper funding of the presidential amnesty programme, cessation of the military operations against the communities, a look into pending law and justice issues and resettlement of internally displaced persons in the region.
There were also demand for expansion of the Ogoni clean-up and environmental remediation to other parts of the region, a resolution of the controversial Maritime University; provision of key regional critical infrastructure, security surveillance and protection of oil and gas infrastructure as well as the relocation of administrative and operational headquarters of IOCs to the region.
The stakeholders want adequate power supply, strengthening the Niger Delta Ministry, proper resettlement of displaced Bakassi indigenes, economic development and empowerment and implementation of fiscal federalism.
Clark who said his team had the blessing of the militant groups, including the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) to represent their interests noted that Buhari promised to study the demands carefully and provide detailed responses as he would not want hasty quick-win fixes that would not be long lasting.
“It was fairly good, fairly civilised dialogue between all the parties. I did make a speech in terms of what the Federal Government direction should be. The president gave his ideas in terms of what his thought processes were. I think it is a frank conversation. It is the beginning of a process. We had over a hundred representatives. So, it was a well-attended function. Opinions given were honest, frank to the point. But I think at the end of the day, we exchanged enough thought processes to go back to the drawing board to begin a process of work.”
Kachikwu who said the engagements with the stakeholders will now be quarterly, announced that crude oil production has risen to 2.1 million barrels per day as at press time, as a result of preliminary negotiations and scaling down of hostilities by militants in the Niger Delta.
“The reality is that as of this morning, we are at 2.1 million barrels production. That is 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.”
“If you look at seven big wins that we set up last week, part of the expectations by 2017 is to target a zero shut down as a of result of militancy. 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 were fairly beaten up a little bit 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 is going on to deal with the issues.”
Present at the meeting included traditional rulers; governors of Akwa Ibom, Beyelsa, Delta, Imo and deputy governors of Rivers States, former governors; civil rights activists, ministers from the region; service chiefs, the Inspector General of Police; National Security Adviser and Director General of the Department of State Services.
