Over recent years, the Niger Delta has been a hotbed of militancy die to the neglect the area suffers despite being Nigeria's cash cow that produces its wealth. Since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power last year, Niger delta militants have taken up arms again, prompting the government to ask for talks.
Several of the community groups in the region have agreed to sit down and negotiate and in response, the government has put together a machinery to facilitate the talks. A summit is being coordinated by the office of the vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo with Senator Babafemi Ojudu of Ekiti State, who is the special assistant on political matters to President Buhari, acting as facilitators.
Ahead the Abuja meeting, the Niger Delta Dialogue Contact Group, headed by the former military governor of the old Rivers State, King Alfred Diette-Spiff is meeting today in Port-Harcourt. It plans to analyse the findings of its contact groups and come up with an action plan for the Abuja meeting.
Leader of the Pan-Niger Delta platform, comprising monarchs, leaders and stakeholders of Niger Delta coastal states, former federal commissioner for information, Chief Edwin Clark, said: “We are not aware that any date has been fixed for the Niger Delta Summit but arrangements are on top gear for the monarchs, leaders and stakeholders of the coastal states to meet with President Buhari to brief him on our last meeting in Effurun, Warri and the way forward.”
Senator Ojudu added: “As you are aware, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is determined to ensure the achievement of sustainable peace and improved well-being of the people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Towards the achievement of this mission of government and as part of efforts to contain the restiveness in the region, the Office of the Vice-President is partnering with agencies of government that have core functions in the Niger Delta region to organise a two-day summit on the Niger Delta with the theme: Towards Sustainable Peace and Development in the Niger- Delta.
“The objectives of the summit, which is scheduled to take place at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja between September 26 and 27, 2016, are to provide an enduring political blueprint geared towards a more lasting peace in the Niger Delta region and to delineate an acceptable security framework for consolidating and sustaining peace and stability in the Niger Delta."
Meanwhile, the governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has met Chief Clark and others to fine tune the plan for the meeting of pan-Niger Delta Coastal states’ monarchs and leaders with President Buhari. It is not yet clear if militant group the Niger Delta Avengers will participate in the summit.
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