FG, Insensitive To PANDEF’s Agenda – Ogoriba

Stakeholders have expressed regrets that the Federal Government is yet to implement the 16-Point Agenda submitted to it in 2016 as a way of finding lasting solutions to the challenges facing the Niger Delta region. This was the consensus among resolutions adopted from findings and recommendations of its study at the 2021 Niger Delta Dialogue (NDD) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The study focused on emerging threats aggravating insecurity in the Niger Delta. This year’s study review on the NDD, an initiative of the Academic Associates Peace Works (AAPW), sponsored by the European Union (EU), focused on “Rethinking Synergy Between Traditional Rulers, Security Agencies, Government Officials and Civil Society in Returning Security to the Niger Delta”.
Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) had since November 1, 2016 presented to the Federal Government a 16-Point Demand and just recently during the Niger Delta traditional stakeholders forum, held at Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, an elder of the Team B, Timi Kaiser-Wilhelm Ogoriba, lamented over Federal Government’s insensitivity to PANDEF’s 16-Point Agenda, saying that it is a dangerous signal as its silence continues to aggravate high level of threats and insecurity in the Niger Delta region.
In this exclusive interview with The Tide’s Correspondent, Susan Serekara-Nwikhana, Elder Ogoriba discussed some of the challenges in the Niger Delta as well as itemising the 16-Point Agenda as published by PANDEF. He thus, expressed worries over what would become of the region years ahead if the Federal Government continued to remain insensitive to the Niger Delta people’s demands.
Here are Excerpts:
What do you mean by Team B?
Team B is made up of some elders and persons in the younger age bracket. It was set up to interface with militants within the Niger Delta region to make them see reasons in laying down their arms.
What Is PANDEF all about and who can belong to it?
Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) is the umbrella body of the elders, chiefs, leaders, traditional rulers, top professionals, and strategic stakeholders, women and youths representing all the people of the coastal states of the Niger Delta.
The Forum was founded in August 2016 under the guidance and able leadership of the National Leader of the South-South Geopolitical Zone, Chief (Dr.) Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, OFR, CON.
It would be necessary to note the background to the establishment of the Forum and its mission to foster unity, peace, justice, and development in the Niger Delta region.
What informed your decision to found the Forum?
The founding of the Forum became necessary following the spate of unrelenting attacks by aggrieved youths on Nigeria’s strategic oil and gas installations, the bulk of which are located in the coastal states of the Niger Delta region; the attacks snowballed into yet another crisis in the already volatile region. Nigeria lost a substantial amount of revenue from oil and gas, the country’s main revenue source.
At the peak of the crisis, oil production was drastically reduced from about 2.3 barrels per day to mere 800,000 barrels per day (bpd); given the economic ramifications of the situation, the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari employed various strategies to arrest the situation. None of the strategies – including the option of force through the deployment of troops and militarization of the region – was effective enough to douse the tension in the Niger Delta.
It was at that point PANDEF stepped into the fray to calm tempers in the region through various engagements with critical stakeholders.
The intervention of PANDEF convinced the armed agitators to halt attacks on oil and gas facilities to give room for dialogue.
The relative peace that ensued, yielded the expected result for the federal government as Nigeria’s revenue earning capacity from oil and gas, once again, not only was restored to the 3016 budget benchmark of 2.2 million bpd, but got to an all-time high of 2.35 million bpd by December 2017, as was confirmed by the federal government. What this meant for our national economy was an increase in revenue to about 110 million (US) Dollars, or about 33 billion Naira, per day (at the approximate exchange rate of N305/Dollar).
The oil production benchmark for the 2018 National Budget was 2.3 million barrels per day, the 2019 National Budget oil production benchmark was also 2.3million barrels per day but energy sources put the nation’s oil production capacity at the time at over 2.5million barrels per day. The 2020 National Budget oil production benchmark is kept at 2.18million barrels per day.
When did PANDEF visit President Buhari to present the 16-point agenda?
On November 1, 2016, a delegation of the Niger Delta people comprising traditional rulers, leaders of thought, professionals, academics, civil rights activists, women and youth leaders from the various ethnic nationalities, under the auspices of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) met with President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. At the meeting, which also had Governors and other political office holders from the Region in attendance, PANDEF presented its 16-Point Demand to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Specifically and in summary what does the 16-Point Agenda entail?
Specifically, the 16-item dialogue document embodies the core and fundamental issues that cut across all segments of the ethnic nationalities in the coastal states of the Niger Delta region.
What were the requests made at the meeting with President Buhari?
At the historic meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, PANDEF also requested that a negotiating team of the Government and PANDEF be set up without delay.
That meeting gave the people of the region a renewed sense of hope and optimism for an enduring relationship between the Niger Delta region and the Federal Government. More than that, the people hoped that a mutually beneficial dialogue would ensue, which would naturally lead to finding lasting solutions to the very difficult challenges of the region.
Was there any positive response from the FG?
Yes, the fact-finding tour of the Niger Delta by then Acting President, His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
The first positive response of the Government to the 16-Point Demand was the fact-finding tour made to the Niger Delta by the Vice President, then Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. The tour took the then Acting President to all the coastal states of the Niger Delta, beginning with Delta State. He met with a cross-section of stakeholders in the States and inspected facilities at the take-off campus of the Nigerian Maritime University at Okerenkoko in Gbaramatu Kingdom of Warri South-West Local Government Area. Subsequently, the Acting President visited all the oil and gas producing states of the Niger Delta region.
Any regret from the visit to Mr. President?
Unfortunately, despite the gains arising from the subsisting relative peace in the Niger Delta, and the people’s demonstration of commitment to the peaceful resolution of issues, the Nigerian government has not reciprocated the gesture of the region by addressing the genuine demands of the Niger Delta people as encapsulated in the 16-Point Demand that was presented to the federal government on 1st November 2016.
What does the 16-Point Agenda demand from FG?
1.The Presidential Amnesty Programme
In 2009, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, proclaimed the Amnesty Programme to end hostilities in the Niger Delta and to facilitate stabilization of the security conditions and pave way for sustainable development of the Region.
The Post Amnesty Programme, conceived at the end of the disarmament and retrieval of weapons from the ex-militants, had five components, namely:
• The Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) of former militant agitators.
• Critical infrastructural and economic development in the Niger Delta
•Environmental Remediation
• Implementation of modalities for the involvement of Host Communities in the ownership of Petroleum assets
• Establishment of a framework for Oil and Gas Assets Protection and Pipeline Surveillance
We note that regrettably, only the Disarmament and Demobilization component of the DDR programme is being implemented to date. There is an urgent need, therefore, for a review of the programme to reappraise its Core Mandate to provide a robust Exit Strategy, to transit recipients into jobs, effectively integrate them and free them of dependency on stipends, so that their new-found skills would be of benefit to themselves and the larger community.
2. Law and Justice Issues
Given the insecurity situation in the Niger Delta, several pending law and justice issues regarding some aggrieved groups and individuals are yet to be resolved. It is important to address these issues urgently as a step towards lasting peace.
3. The Effect of Increased Military Presence in the Niger Delta
The increased deployment of military personnel into the Niger Delta has resulted in rise in cases of invasion of communities, displacement of persons, harassment and other forms of abuse of human rights. This has continued to escalate tension and insecurity in the region. We urge that this trend be reversed.
4. Plight of Internally Displaced Persons
The recent upsurge in insecurity in the region has resulted in the displacement of large numbers of people from their communities and subjected them to untold hardship in various locations. We hereby call on the government to direct the relevant agencies to take urgent measures to meet their immediate needs and return them to their communities.
5. The Ogoni Clean-up and Environmental Remediation

We thank Mr. President for flagging off the clean-up of Ogoniland as recommended by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The long delay in starting the Ogoni Clean-Up had sapped confidence locally and had caused the broader Niger Delta to doubt the intentions of Government. We, therefore, urge the Federal Government to speed up this exercise, especially by following through the emergency steps outlined in the UNEP Report, which includes the provision of safe drinking water for a populace whose water has been declared unfit for human consumption by UNEP, years ago. We also urge the federal government to commission a Region-wide credible assessment of the impacts of crude oil pollution of the environment in the Niger Delta and undertake to enforce all environment protection laws.
We similarly urge the Federal Government to take decisive steps to enforce the Zero Gas Flare deadline.
The devastating effects of coastal erosion and lack of effective shoreline protection for the coastal communities of the Niger Delta must be tackled as a matter of urgency.
6. The Maritime University Issue
The Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, is largely regarded, by persons from the Zone, as symbolic and deserving. Its closure and certain statements around it, have been viewed as insensitive and out rightly provocative. This, of course, is aside from the obvious potential benefits that the Institution offers to the technical and managerial capacity enhancements of, not just persons from the Zone, but all Nigerians. We, therefore, strongly urge the President to direct the take-off of the already approved Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, in Delta State. The prompt take-off of this University will most certainly assure the people of the Niger Delta that President’s Administration is truly a sensitive, listening and inclusive Government. Also, we strongly urge that the announced plans to upgrade the 30-year old Maritime Academy, Oron, Akwa Ibom State, to a university should be implemented.
7. Key Regional Critical Infrastructure
There is the need for the Federal Government to fast-track interventions on some of the indicative Regional Infrastructure viz:
• We wish to thank President for ensuring that the first phase of the Coastal Railway project is provided for in the current 2016 budget. We urge the Federal Government to further ensure the full implementation of this project that is designed to run through all the states in the Niger Delta, up to Lagos.
• Complete the existing East-West Road.

• Work should resume on the abandoned Bodo-Bonny Road Project. We note that NLNG had already offered 50% funding for this Project.
• Implement the proposed East-West Coastal Road Project, which stretches 704 km in
length along the Atlantic coastline, from Odukpani Junction in Cross River State, connecting over 1000 communities, to Ibeju on the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos State (Design already completed by NDDC).
• Implement the development of inland waterways and riverine infrastructure.
• Remove bottlenecks militating against the full activation and utilization of the existing ports in the Niger Delta, including Port Harcourt, Onne, Calabar, commence dredging of the Escravos bar-mouth which will open up Burutu, Koko, Sapele, Warri and Gelegele Ports to deep sea-going vessels and expedite work on the dredging of the Calabar Port. The Deep Sea Port project in Bayelsa State also requires consideration.

• We urge the commencement of work on the Ibaka Deep Sea Port for which Feasibility has long been completed.
Details of other regional infrastructure projects will be presented in the course of the dialogue.
8. Security Surveillance and Protection of Oil and Gas Infrastructure
The incessant breaching and vandalization of pipelines, and oil theft, have taken direct tolls on oil production and supplies, with corresponding adverse effects on the economy of our dear Country. Pipeline vandalism also damages the environment, health and economic activity of inhabitants of affected areas, as well as complicates environmental cleanup efforts.
It is therefore our view that an urgent review is done to pipeline surveillance contacts to give the responsibility to Communities rather than individuals in a manner that ties some benefits to their responsibility. Communities would then see their responsibility for the pipelines as protection of what belongs to them.
9. Relocation of Administrative and Operational Headquarters of IOCs
The Headquarters of most Oil Companies are not located in the Niger Delta Region. As a result, the Region is denied all the developmental and associated benefits that would have accrued to the Region from their presence. It has therefore become imperative for the IOCs to relocate to their areas of operation. This move would create a mutually beneficial relationship with the host communities.
10. Power Supply
Despite being the core of power generation in the Country, most Communities in the Niger Delta remain unconnected to the National Grid.
We, therefore, advocate a power plan that strongly ties power supply in the Region to gas supplies, thereby giving all sides a stake in improved stability. Because of existing infrastructure, this should be an area where the Government could deliver the swiftest and most noticeable change.

11. Economic Development and Empowerment
The Federal and State Governments need to signal their interest in sustained economic development in the region by:
i. Implementing the Brass LNG and Fertilizer Plant Project and similarly concluding Train 7 of the NLNG in Bonny
ii. Reviewing, updating and aggressively driving the National Gas Master Plan to integrate the economic interests and industrialization aspirations of the Niger Delta Region
iii. Creating a Niger Delta Energy Industrial Corridor that would process some portions of the Region’s vast hydrocarbon natural resources, where they are produced, to create industrialization and a robust economic base in the Region that would improve the living condition of the Citizens.
iv. Expediting work on the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in the Region, in particular,
the Gas City, Ogidigben and Deep Sea Port, Gbaramatu, in Warri South LGA of Delta State.
v. Harnessing the huge rain-fed agricultural potentials of the area through the development of farm estates, fishery development projects and Agro-Allied Industrial Clusters.
vi. Harnessing the entrepreneurial ingenuity of the youths in the Region to keep them gainfully employed in legitimate businesses, and away from restiveness.
vii. We urge the use of ICT as a tool for peace, job-creation and development. Appropriately deployed ICT can be the elixir to create much-needed jobs, promote entrepreneurship and create wealth in the Region.
vii. Resolve the various issues leading to the non-operation of Delta Steel Company, Oku Iboku Paper Mill, Edo Textile Mill and ALSCON.
12. Inclusive Participation in Oil Industry and Ownership of Oil Blocs
The sense of alienation of Niger Delta indigenes from the resources of their land will continue until there are affirmative actions that guarantee the involvement of these communities in the ownership and participation in the Oil and Gas Industry. We, therefore, urge the Federal Government to enunciate policies and actions that will address the lack of participation as well as imbalance in the ownership of Oil and Gas Assets.
We similarly urge the institution of Host Community Content within the Nigerian Content framework, across the entire enterprise chain of the Petroleum and Maritime sectors.
13. Restructuring and Funding of the NDDC
There is the urgent need to adequately restructure the NDDC to refocus it as a truly Intervention Agency, that responds swiftly to the yearnings of the grassroots of the Niger Delta. Communities must be able to have a say in what projects come to them. We also urge the full implementation of the funding provisions of the NDDC Act.
14. Strengthening the Niger Delta Ministry
Since the creation of the Niger Delta Ministry, even though it was meant to function in the mode of the Federal Capital Territory Ministry, its funding has been abysmal. There is an absolute need, therefore, to adequately fund, and strengthen this Ministry to the purpose for which it was created.
15. The Bakassi Question
The fall out of the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon continues to threaten the security of the southernmost part of the Niger Delta Region. The unresolved issues arising from the Green Tree Agreement continues to create tension and plague the region. There is also the lack of a well-coordinated transparent Blueprint for the development and resettlement of the displaced populations. The host communities face huge abuses and are unable to reestablish their respective means of livelihood. We, therefore, recommend a comprehensive resettlement plan including development for the host communities and displaced populations to reduce the risk of making them into a Stateless People.
16. Fiscal Federalism
The clamour for fiscal federalism has continued to be re-echoed by different sections of the country. The people of the Niger Delta region support this call and urge that the Federal Government should regard this matter expeditiously.
What message would you want to pass to the FG for being insensitive to these issues five years after?
It is regrettable to say that the 16-point agenda has not been attended to thereby bringing about high rate of insecurity in the region.
For emphasises, after having several interface with these boys, they saw the reasons for dialogue than allowing the region go in flames as a result this brought about cease fire in the region making everyone to be enjoying the relative peace been enjoyed today.
I want the Federal Government to know that when these boys see that there is blatant refusal in addressing their issues by the Federal Government, they are capable of making the region go into flames, adding that he appealed to the Federal Government, and other critical stakeholders responsible for the implementation of this 16-point agenda to be sincere to themselves and do the needful, adding that what the people in the Niger Delta region want is that all must be fair, just and equitable in what they do, so as to engendered peace and security to the Niger Delta region.