Leaders
of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Chief Edwin Clark and Obong Victor Attah, have
asked people of the region to give the federal government time to respond to
the 16-point demands presented to President Muhammadu Buhari last Tuesday. In
an interview, Chief Clark recalled that the President had promised to study
their demands and get back to the leaders.
He,
however, advised the Presidency not to tarry for too long before responding to
issues raised in the forum’s position paper.militants “As Mr President said,
they are going to study our documents. So, we are waiting for them and we do
hope it will be early response because the boys themselves have spoken today
that they were happy with what we went for and the government should act
immediately. ‘’We have our body, PANDEF, we would be in contact with the
Minister of State (Petroleum) from time to time. So, the President too
recognized that, and we too acknowledged it, that the Minister of State for
Petroleum, is the bridge between us and the government. “The President should
not sit on our demands for too long.
These
things must be attended to as soon as possible because this opportunity that we
had on Tuesday may not arise again. If nothing is done for some time and you
ask Niger Deltans to go and see Mr President, they may not go, which would be
dangerous. “When government threatened to go with force to the Niger Delta, oil
production fell to about one million barrels per day. The minister said the
other day that since we have been talking to our boys and since we have been
able to discuss with the government, the oil has gone up to about 2.1 million
barrels per day. ‘’So, that is the present position, and with the fall in oil
prices, you need the quantity to make up. So, if the federal government decides
to take the other way round of trying to attack or occupy our communities,
killing people and so on, it would be very disastrous. It will not be in
anybody’s interest,” he warned.
On
his part, Obong Attah said in the meantime, there was need for
confidence-building on both sides, adding that the best way for government to
do that was to immediately set up its own dialogue team to interface with the
group. “If you read that presentation properly, the essence of it is to say to
Mr President, we have to build confidence on both sides. The militants in the
creeks must trust that the government is determined to do something about changing
the situation that they find themselves in today. ‘’The government must feel
that the militants are prepared to lay down their arms and accept dialogue as a
means of solving the situation.
So,
this confidence-building is one of the key issues and the first thing that
needs to happen to demonstrate that government will set up its own dialogue
team without any delay.” ‘’When the government does that, everybody would know
that yes, government is now prepared to talk and find solutions. What we went there
with were just issues that we know if discussed and resolved satisfactorily,
would bring peace. ‘’So, it is not as people think. Yes, there are suggestions,
there are even demands, if you like.
Such
things as please stop gas flaring! How can anybody suggest that gas flaring
should continue in today’s world with this global warming and the devastating
effects that we are seeing in it? ‘’Ask the International Oil Companies, IOCs,
to relocate to their places of operation. That makes sense to everybody. Find a
way of training these militants and transiting them into proper jobs. ‘’Give a
robust ICT programme for them to go in so that they can make themselves
entrepreneurs. Agriculture too is very important.
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