At a meeting with
President Muhammadu Buhari and other top government officials on Tuesday,
representatives of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria presented 16 points they
believe should be considered by the government and implemented to end militancy
in the region and boost development.
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
demobilisation 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 will create a mutually
beneficial relationship with the 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.
1 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 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. The
Bakassi Question, recommend a comprehensive resettlement plan including
development for the host communities and displaced population to reduce the
risk of making the into a stateless people.
16. Fiscal
federalism, the region supports the call for true federalism and urged that
federal government should treat the matter expeditiously.
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