N’Delta Crisis: Presidency Meets Key Stakeholders, ’Morrow

In an effort towards re
solving the crisis in the Niger Delta region, the Presidency has scheduled a crucial meeting tomorrow with key stakeholders from the region, comprising traditional rulers, and Niger Delta Ministers, among others.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, revealed this during the launch of the Short and Medium Term Priorities to Grow Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry (2015 to 2019), tagged the ‘7 Bigwins,’ a new initiative of the ministry.
He said, “We are trying to do a couple of things. First is that on Tuesday, November 1, 2016, we have been able to get the President, in his usual kind nature, to meet with the Niger Delta stakeholders. About 50 of them are going to be coming to that meeting and it comprises all the kings drawn from the seven or eight-oil producing states in the Niger Delta; the heads of security, who are here present today; some government officials, certainly all the ministers from the Niger Delta area.
“It will be our first attempt to actually get them face to face in the same room with the president, so as to understand what his vision is in terms of Niger Delta security issues”.
He explained that the Presidency had approved a road map that would see security in the Niger Delta move from the responsibility of the military and the country’s security apparatus, to that of the oil companies as it is done everywhere the world over.
He said, this would require the oil companies to institute processes that would engage indigenes of the oil-producing communities and also work with communities to guard and protect oil production facilities.
Apart from covering the trust deficit which exists in the region, the plan would provide earning and income-making opportunities for people within the local communities, stressing that as long as they are engaged in things that could boost their income earning, the temptation to destroy facilities would be limited.
The minister further said that he would be spearheading a quarterly engagement process involving all oil-producing communities, their state governors, leaders of the stakeholders group as well as the oil producers.
“This would be done quarterly and it would be rotated from state to state. The whole idea is to provide a first-hand platform to engage before these problems go out of hand and that will become a constant feature”, he said.

Chris Oluoh