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In search of enduring peace in the Delta

By Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt) and Inemesit Akpan-Nsoh (Uyo)
12 March 2017   |   4:05 am
Even if it is to be taken on the face value, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s visits to the Niger Delta appears to signal government’s resolve to address some of the pressing age-long grievances of the Niger Delta.

In furtherance to its building initiative, the leadership of PANDF, led by Edwin Clark, met with President Muhammadu Buhari, last November in Abuja, where they presented a 16-point demand to the Presidency.

With cessation of attacks on oil and gas installations by militants, the Federal Government has taken the opportunity to engage stakeholders towards establishing lasting peace in the volatile oil rich Niger Delta region.

Since January 16, 2017, the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo has traversed; Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Edo states, as part of peace building effort to end hostilities in the Niger Delta, and in turn boost oil production, which accounts for 70 per cent of government’s revenue and 90 percent of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.

Drop in the price of crude oil in the international market and reduction in the country’s daily oil production to about 1.6 million barrels per day due to militant attacks on oil facilities, clearly indicate that pressure has been mounting on the government to urgently end the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta, in order not to exacerbate the current economic recession, which has led to a loss of  $200b worth of investment in the oil and gas sector in 2016.

Concerned about renewed hostilities by militants and possible retaliatory attacks by military against potential militant targets mainly in Niger Delta communities, elders in the region under the aegis Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDF) intervened to douse tensions.

In furtherance to its building initiative, the leadership of PANDF, led by Edwin Clark, met with President Muhammadu Buhari, last November in Abuja, where they presented a 16-point demand to the Presidency.

On January 16, the Vice President, Osinbajo started a series of interactive engagements with oil-producing communities beginning from Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State, where he stated that: “We must also recognise that the Niger Delta is a special place, a special economic zone for this nation and so must be treated as a special development zone. We must recognise the unique environmental and daring challenges of Niger Delta.”

He noted, “The PANDEF have submitted a concise list of 16 dialogue issues that will be extremely helpful in ascertaining the key development priorities. That bounded document is an important working document. It is a document that shows what is required to be done and in every sense the document is an excellent roadmap for the future of the Niger Delta region.”

To secure the understanding of the Niger Delta people, the Acting President told them what they wanted to hear, particularly issues relating to the operations of the oil companies and the establishment of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State. According to him, “The bill of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, has just passed the second reading in the National Assembly.”

He expressed optimism that the members of the National Assembly will fast track this to ensure that the Maritime University can come to fruition, as soon as, possible.

In Bayelsa State, the Vice President said effort must be made to turn oil producing communities into hubs for petro-chemical industries, refining and related activities. “The Ministry of Petroleum in collaboration with the oil companies is working on several initiatives for host communities, including working with illegal refiners in oil bearing communities to participate in modular refineries that will be established. There is no doubt that thermal power stations should be stationed here, it makes sense, the gas deposits are here.”

And while in Rivers State, the acting President spoke extensively on the issue of environmental remediation of the Ogoni area and by extension what could be translated to a wider cleaning of other contaminated sites in the Niger Delta.

Despite recent visits to some states in the Niger Delta by the Acting President, some stakeholders have warned that peace remains uncertain, as the possibility of resorting to renewed attacks slowly brews below the surface. And to avert this, government has been urged to address the age long grievances of the region.

Former Ijaw National Congress (INC) President, Professor Kimse Okoko, said the only panacea to the lingering Niger Delta crisis is for the country to be restructured along the lines of true federalism.

He also canvassed the full implementation of the recommendations of the report of the 2014 National Conference. According to him, it will do not just the Niger Delta good, but the entire country.

A political analyst, Mr. Gary Agbadiba, told The Guardian that government should consciously strive to promote peace through the promotion of inclusive and accountable governance system that will guarantee justice and equity for all Nigerians.

He pointed that there are scores of holistic and effective operational peace architecture documents at the disposal of the Federal Government. He cited the Ledum Mitee led Niger Delta Technical Committee and the 2014 National Conference reports respectively. Agbadiba argued that these documents contain encompassing prevention, conflict resolution, peace building and long-term strategic development agenda that the government needs to implement.

He suggested that for peace to reign in the Niger Delta, the government needs to become more effective at preventing conflict and sustaining peace by ensuring that the age long grievances of the Niger Delta people are addressed expeditiously.

“I am sure that it has never escaped the attention of those in government that peace remains a prerequisite for stimulating action towards sustainable development in the country.  There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development,” he added,

Similarly, Dr Kelechi Otelema said government needs to demonstrate the political will to engage with the people of the region sincerely, and to provide the necessary political backing for the Vice President’s and PANDF preventive and mediation efforts. She said it is also important for the Federal Government to include the militants directly in peace building processes. In addition, she
recommended that government must insist on promotion of human rights in communities where the military is currently deployed. This, according to her, is strategic in order to foster peace and security.

As a springboard for sustainable peace, former chairman of the Technical Committee on Niger Delta, Mr. Ledum Mitee, said peace in the region could only be sustained through meaningful dialogue, where all the parties will sit down and talk.

“For me, there is no alternative to dialogue. I don’t see any alternative to dialogue. The point I keep on making is that we will not be tired of dialogue. But it is not just dialogue. What we have asked for this time is not just dialogue, but dialogue backed with some credible action on the ground.  If you agreed on something, then you go and do it and that will instill confidence in the process and in the people at the grassroots,” he said.

An academic, Dr Simeon Wokoma, told The Guardian that the people appreciate the experience, vision and versatility of the Vice President, and will hold on to what he had said during his tour of the three states. “When it comes to the issue of the Niger Delta, the first thing you hear government talk about is we want peace. Peace is desirable to the people of the Niger Delta more than the rest of the country. But, how can you have peace when everywhere we look we are surrounded not by the tranquility of order, but by environmental violence and terror unleashed on us by the activities of the oil companies. We all stress peace yet find it so illusive because no conscious effort is being made to address the fundamental issues that led to unrest in the Niger Delta. We want action and not talks,” he said.

He said it will amount to self deceit on the part of the present administration, which is already frittering away its limited time on a needless engagement process, to feign ignorance of not knowing that there exist scores of reports, such as the technical committee on the Niger Delta report, which proffered extensive recommendations on how to holistically address the vexed Niger Delta question.

“PANDF leadership was too simplistic in some of their demands. For ages, Niger Delta elders and youths have been crying and demanding that Nigeria must be restructured along the lines of true federalism. States should control their resources. All maladroit and repressive laws, which gave the ownership of oil to the Federal Government, must be repealed.  Because oil and gas is found in abundance in minority States, its ownership is vested in the Federal Government, why not ownership of solid minerals found mainly in states dominated by the so called majority ethnic groups,” he said.

Spokesperson to the president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Bari-ara Kpalap, said while the renewed efforts of the Federal Government in ensuring peace in the region is appreciated, peace can only be sustained if the condition in the Niger Delta improves. He said: “The presidency has been told steps to take to improve the conditions in the Niger Delta. The peace we are seeing in the Niger Delta can be sustained if the condition here improves. There is need for infrastructural development. If the government improves the peoples’ condition, there won’t be any justification for anyone to resort to violence.”

On his part, the publicity secretary of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Victor Burubo, said the only way peace can be sustained in the Niger Delta is for the country to be restructured into a true federal State, where states produce their own resources and pay taxes to the central government. He added that sustainable peace can only be attained if the Federal government comes up with a strategic Marshal plan on how to develop the region, arguing that the current trend whereby government only seeks for peace when oil production is disrupted, cannot guarantee sustainable peace.

He said: “The peace they seek is not all embracing and that is why it has not lasted. And even now, if you listen to the Acting President, the peace the Federal Government seeks is still limited to let the oil flow. That is saddening.

“I will give you an example. Militants took up arms, the Federal Government came up with amnesty to say, drop the arms, take this sum and go home. That is settlement.  Now the Acting President has heard about illegal refining and came up with the solution that they will build modular refineries so that the people will be employed. End of story. What about teeming masses of youths, men and women in the Niger Delta who have not taken up arms and are not refining oil? Do they want us to form an illegal navy so that they can employ us into the Nigeria navy? We need to have a Marshal plan, an economic plan for the Niger Delta to improve the lot of the people of Niger Delta. Only then can peace reign,” he said.

He also stressed the need for the government to demilitarise the Niger Delta, pointing out that series of human rights violations are perpetuated by the military personnel currently deployed to communities in the Niger Delta.

In furtherance to its building initiative, the leadership of PANDF led by Edwin Clark, met with President Muhammadu Buhari, last November in Abuja where they presented a 16-point demand to the presidency. PANDF had demanded a review of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, which Late President Musa Yar Adua, proclaimed to end hostilities in the Niger Delta and to facilitate stabilisation of the security conditions and pave way for sustainable development of the region.

Other issues, which the regional leaders felt if solved will halt militant hostilities include; review of security surveillance and protection of oil and gas infrastructure, such that the responsibility will be given to communities rather than individuals; relocation of administrative and operational headquarters of international oil companies to the Niger Delta; power supply; economic development and empowerment, inclusive participation in oil industry and ownership of oil blocs, restructuring and funding of the NDDC; strengthening the Niger Delta Ministry; the Bakassi question and fiscal federalism

The chairman of Civil Liberty Organisation in Akwa Ibom State, Clifford Thomas, said the government has not show its sincerity for it to be taken serious that it wants to engender genuine peace in the Niger Delta region.  “If the government is sincere, and the people notice that, they will be willing to work with the Federal Government to ensure that there is enduring peace, but the government has never been sincere with the people of the Niger Delta region, and that is why if the Acting President toured the region three times a month, people will still have doubts as to the workability of the new move.”

But Akwa Ibom State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Uwemedimo Nwoko, said the Acting President’s peace initiatives, is a pointer that he is somebody who has the idea of what it takes to build a nation. “However, he is not the driver of the APC vehicle. From all our knowledge of assessment of their promises, there is nothing they promise that they have done, nothing they say that is followed to a logical conclusion. So, my fear is that, with the kind of principal he is working with who are not trust worthy, this has made us not to swallow this action hook-line and sinker; I would suggest that we give them some time and approach them in the light of the current engagement of the acting President and see if he will sustain it,” said Nwoko.

He warned that, the current engagement should be taken with a pinch of salt, noting that, if the Federal Government was sincere, it would result into a meaningful engagement with the stakeholders of the region. “Whatever is the case, I think the engagement of the Acting President is on the positive light, they should be followed up with actions, let them now bear fruits that go beyond the normal politicking.”

Even if it is to be taken on the face value, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s visits to the Niger Delta appears to signal government’s resolve to address some of the pressing age-long grievances of the Niger Delta.

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