President Bola Tinubu has been urged to take remedial steps to address certain government policy imbalances in the Niger Delta region that may lead to a fresh conflict, especially concerning oil and gas pipelines surveillance contracts.

The Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum and Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities gave the warning in a communiqué  released after a strategic meeting in Port Harcourt, Wednesday evening.

In the communique, the stakeholders held that the signs of conflicts that bedeviled the region is beginning to rise except the government takes preemptive action to address the obvious concerns.

The communique was signed by Dr Alaye Tari Theophilus (President, Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide), Mammoth Knight (President, Ibom Youth Council), Henry Assor (Ikwerre Youth Assembly), Joseph Etim Antai (National President, Oro-Obolo Youth Assembly), Usiwo Oghene Efezino (President, Isoko Leadership Forum), Chief Chika Obielumani (President, Coalition of Ndokwa Youth Leaders), Kingsley Tenumah (Chairman, Warri Indigenous People’s Movement) Chief Mathias Efe Olowu (National Chairman, Odavwe R’Urhobo Group) and Dr Asobi Oyemike (National Coordinator, Ndokwa Advocacy for Development and Good Governance).

Explaining the position, the stakeholders said “We, the Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum and the Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities, after a strategic meeting comprising community leaders, youth representatives, former agitators, stakeholders, and critical opinion leaders from across the Niger Delta region, have lived through the cycles of conflict, peace, accountability, betrayal, and reconstruction that continue to define the security architecture of the Niger Delta region.

The communiqué while justifying their call for decentralisation of pipeline contracts pointed out that under President Goodluck Jonathan, oil production peaked when pipeline surveillance contracts were decentralised thereby giving sense of belonging and ownership to communities as against what obtains presently when the country Despite spending more on centralised surveillance yet the country is unable to meet its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

They lamented that when chips were down which led to a near return to the trenches, some of the region’s leaders were invited for questioning which while some responded and cleared the doubts, some returned to the creeks to form the Avengers which attacked national assets in the region.

They regretted that while some of the leaders like King Tom Ateke, Dokubo Asari, Ben Ebijabowei, Biopere Ajube and Michael Jonny garrisoned their domains to ensure that the spread of agitation and violence were checked and confined to the Delta State region, those who sided with the federal government for peace have been left out and sidelined while those who took up arms to fight the government have been rewarded with the contracts.

In what they called “dangerous reality” they referred to repositioning of private security operators with better funding, better organisation and more technologically equipped with night vision drones that could be launched from the back of vehicles as already demonstrated, warning that “the development does not strengthen national security but weakens it”.

They observed that despite all the centralisation, the result even on huge expenditure have been dismal which they insisted calls for an audit and review as decentralisation,.does not mean disorganisation.

On the Amnesty programme, the stakeholders called for review as well as ensuring that it doesn’t lose it’s status of equity and peace to descend into murky political waters as have been lately noticed.

The communique however, called for upward review of stipends paid to ex-agitators which has remained at 65,000 a month in spite of weakened currency and inflationary effects. 

They alleged that a particular ex-agitator has in cahoots with the head of the amnesty programme, increased by over 500 percent, allocation to the unnamed group and called for probing the programme from inception as to probe the tenure of Chief Dennis Otuaro for transparency, accountability, public trust and sustainable peace in the region.

Blessing Ibunge