FG asks Niger Delta elders to ‘end vandalism now’

Another group of Niger Delta elders has met with the federal government and presented a different set of demands.

But at the meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja on Tuesday, TheCable understands that he told the delegation the issue of vandalism must first be resolved “because that is the most important thing now”.

Attacks have continued on oil installations despite a series of meetings between government officials and different groups from the Niger Delta.

Osinbajo, sources told TheCable, said the problems in the oil-producing region predated the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

“He told them that if the elite in all regions of the country decide to end the problems in their regions, the problems will be resolved,” an insider told TheCable.

The VP also expressed worries that it is Nigerian producers that are bearing the brunt of the incessant attacks on installations — and not the international oil companies (IOCs).

This  is coming 14 days after the first group met with Buhari and made 16-point demands, including allocation of oil blocks to people from the oil-producing region.

‎The stakeholders led by Edwin Clark and King Alfred Diette-Spiff had on November 1 ‎presented demands including a halt to militarisation of the region, review of the amnesty programme, proper funding of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC), stopping gas flaring, and return of oil companies headquarters to the region.

On Tuesday, a different group called Niger Delta Peoples Congress (NDPC), also led by Spiff, met with Osinbajo and asked for the interest of the “boys” to be taken into consideration to halt the attacks on pipelines.

The delegation, made up of 38 members, said some issues were left out in the first presentation to Buhari.

The president is currently out of the country.

‎Excerpts from the presentation to the VP, signed by congress secretary, Benjamin Okaba, a profession, were made available to the media.

The full text

This delegation is not only to re-affirm the plausible submissions made earlier but to also prioritize these concerns and place them in clearer perspectives. This is premised on our objective assessment of the anxieties, sentiments and myriads of reactions from the key drivers and players in the crises across and outside the region that immediately trailed the meetings.

We are very confident that our modest contributions as articulated below would constitute the panacea to the age long crises in the Niger Delta Region.

• The fundamental concern is political reconstruction and fiscal federalism. We are persuaded to uphold that the nation practices true federalism with legitimate and acceptable division of power among the constituents (the center and regions) and the principle and practice of ownership and management of resources by the constituents. The derivation principal should allow the different unit annex and control its resources and pay appropriate and agreed tax to the centre.
• Demilitarization and peace/confidence building: we are persuaded to request the federal government to stop further invasion of the region under any guise; release unconditionally all freedom fighters from detention and deploy political solution to the issues surrounding the leadership of the agitators/freedom fighters; cause multinational co-operations not only to relocate their operational bases to the region but more significantly create a minimum of 6,000 jobs for the teeming population of unemployed and restive youths of the region; cause the resumption of academic activities at the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State and establish similar institutions in other parts of the region
• Funding Interventionist agencies: Cause the release of over N800 billion outstanding allocations yet to be paid to the NDDC; we request the building of more refineries (modular type), petrochemicals and other petroleum related industries to add value to the crude oil and gas produced from the region.
• Environmental and Human Right Protection: To drastically reduce the current state of environmental degradation and threat to life occasioned by the activities of the mult-national cooperation in the region, we recommend that the federal government should: urgently cause the appropriate agencies and co-operations to begin the comprehensive remediation (clean up etc) of the Niger Delta environment affected by oil spill; provide medical facilities and attention to people suffering from ailments associated with oil and gas activities; prompt the legislative process for the review of the nation’s laws on Environmental impact and give stiffer penalties to defaulters; cause the immediate implementation of all laws stopping Gas flaring in the region; cause the establishment of Internally Displaced Persons camps for the re-settlement of displaced persons at Bakassi, Gbaramatu, etc‎”