The Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, will now be represented in the Muhammadu Buhari-led government’s Inter-Ministerial Group tasked with the implementation of the Niger Delta vision.
At the meeting of the federal government with Niger Delta leaders under the aegis of PANDEF, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo welcomed PANDEF’s offer to fully join the inter-ministerial group.
He reiterated the full commitment of the federal government to realise a new and prosperous Niger Delta developed through forthright partnerships between federal government, state governments, private sector and local communities.
“We are fully committed and thankful for your contributions and feedback. We are working on this day by day. From the beginning, we took the 16-point demand very seriously and we also developed our own plan mostly based on those demands.
“Personally, I believe the issues of the Niger Delta must be addressed. When I undertook the visit to the Niger Delta region, my sole intention for participating in this process is that we need forthrightness and a hands-on approach. There is no week that has passed that I‘ve not held one meeting or the other on the Niger Delta issue. I’ve spent quality time looking at how we can implement this (new vision),” Prof. Osinbajo said.
The acting president also said the FG will implement the new vision in a way that is fair to all parties. “It can’t be done overnight. We are also looking at the integrity of the process so we can meet our targets. We are not out of line. Everything is on course the way we set it out. We have got to do it right,” he said.
The inter-ministerial group, consisting of all relevant ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs of the FG, with the involvement of relevant State governments led by the Acting President, meets regularly to drive the different initiatives and ensure effective and ongoing implementation of the FG Niger Delta new vision.
Prof. Osinbajo further stated that the Federal Government was committed to the Amnesty Programme, the establishment of the Maritime University, the clean-up of Ogoni and the general development of the Niger Delta region.
Speaking on behalf of PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clark thanked the Federal Government for being forthright and showing commitment to improving the fortunes of the region, noting that the Acting President’s visit to the Niger Delta has contributed to the peace in the region.
Clark said, “The meeting was excellent. We met with Mr. Acting President. He was very forthright, truthful. We were very satisfied. There is no ultimatum. We agreed on many things and we came in with our own address, presented it; the ministers presented their cases. Mr. Acting President rounded it off and we saw in him the genuineness, truthfulness and forthrightness. He is a gentleman and we support him. We are satisfied. We did not use the word ‘ultimatum’. We only said we would withdraw. But we have agreed to work together.”
The Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has struggled with relations with the people of the South South, the home of the Niger Delta, the owners of the oil and gas resources in the country.
President Buhari cast the tone for his relationship with the troubled oil region when a few weeks after his inauguration on May 29, 2015 he said that areas that gave him 5% votes (the South East and the South South), should not expected to be treated the same as areas that gave him 97% of the votes (North East and North West).
He has followed through his policy of marginalisation by attacking leaders – political, business, and traditional – from the Niger Delta. One of his early presidential orders was that the stipends to former Niger Delta militants who were under the Amnesty Programme be stopped.
Traditional rulers from the region have been hounded and harassed, their homes and shrines ransacked by agents of the country’s secret police. Soldiers have arrested a traditional ruler in Ogoniland.
The first president of Nigeria from the Niger Delta, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has been unfairly attacked by the Buhari regime in several forms under the guise of “anti-corruption” war. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has illegally clamped down on the bank accounts of former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and those of leading businessmen and women from the region.
Because of the president’s anti-Niger Delta posture and policies, there has been a renewed restiveness in the region. The leading militant group in the region, the Niger Delta Avengers, successfully cut the oil production in the country from 2.2 million barrels a day to less than 600,000 barrels a day following a chain of attacks on oil installations.
Additional reports by News Agency of Nigeria.
