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.,…,.decries invasion of PAP, NDDC, others by outsiders
…..wants Niger Deltan appointed NNPCL GCEO
…urges governors to revive BRACED Commission
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
South-South leaders under the auspices of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) have called on President Bola Tinubu and the national assembly to revisit the 2014 National Conference Report for possible implementation of its recommendations.
This is even as they decried what they tagged as the invasion of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and other interventionist agencies by government officials and persons outside the Niger Delta.
This was contained in a communiqué issued after an extraordinary meeting of Leaders and Critical Stakeholders of the Niger Delta region under the auspices of PANDEF, in Abuja, on Wednesday.
The meeting was chaired by the National Leader, Edwin Clark,. According to the communiqué, the meeting extensively deliberated on the State of the nation, socio-political issues concerning the Niger Delta region, and other related matters.
The forum restated its faith in a stable, united, and peaceful Nigeria, situated on the fundamental principles of equity, fairness, and justice; through a holistic restructuring of the country.
It acknowledged some of the positive steps that have been taken by the Tinubu administration, but insisted that a lot more needs to be done, urgently, to ease the harsh economic burdens on ordinary citizens of the country.
While noting the appointment of some sons and daughters of the Niger Delta to statutory positions by Tinubu, PANDEF, however, decried that the Niger Delta region remains largely under-represented in the appointments made so far, and called on the president to reverse the trend.
The called Tinubu to guarantee the appointment of someone from any of the six South-South states as the next Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL, noting that that “anything short of that would be a great disservice to the Niger Delta people.”
It further condemned what it called the continued gross “annexation” of the NNPCL, “where all top strategic management positions are occupied by persons from the north, while Niger Delta indigenes are marginalized and circumscribed to peripheral standings, in both the management and operations of the industry.”
PANDEF cited the recent “humongous Pipeline Maintenance Contracts awarded by NNPC Ltd., to the exclusion of qualified firms from the Niger Delta as a typical example.”
The forum also called on the federal government to consider supporting and encouraging artisanal refineries, and stop the unnecessary criminalization, to provide gainful employment to the teeming youths of the region and country “given that the Federal Government is developing policies to legalize illegal mining of solid minerals.”
The leaders expressed concern over the deplorable state of infrastructure across the entire Niger Delta “despite the fact that the region continues to bear the brunt of producing the wealth of the nation.”
The forum, therefore, demanded the immediate reconstruction works on several failed sections of the East-West Road; Eleme-Onne, Ahoada- Mbiama-Kaiama, Benin-Sapale-Warri Road, Delta-Bayelsa, Benin-Agbor Road, Calabar-Itu Road, Port Harcourt – Aba Road, Ikot Ekpene-Aba Road, Benin-Auchi road, Calabar Obudu, among others.
It also demanded the extension of the Warri-Itakpe Railway to Abuja, and the expediting of work on the Port Harcourt – Enugu – Maiduguri Rail line, to lessen the transportation difficulties and risks its people are presently facing while also calling on President Tinubu to work towards the revival of the various ports in the Niger Delta including Port Harcourt, Warri, Onne, Calabar, Koko, and Sapele.
PANDEF called on South-South governors to work together, irrespective of their political disparities, in the overall interest of the region, stressing the need to resuscitate the activities of BRACED (Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta) Commission, which, it observed, have become inactive in the last few years.
It commended the efforts of the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, General Barry Ndiomu (rtd) in stabilizing of the Niger Delta region and expressed satisfaction with the recent appointment of a new Board and Management of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) by President Tinubu administration.
