The South south stakeholders have called for immediate cessation of hostilities and violence in the crude oil and gas-rich Niger Delta region, especially with decision of members of Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups to continue to bomb pipelines and other facilities of oil companies.
They also condemned the disruption of oil pipelines, crude oil exploration and exploitation, as well as the emergence of various groups making one agitation or another.
The stakeholders, comprising top government officials, other eminent personalities, security chiefs, human rights activists, members of civil society organisations and representatives of the private sector, on Friday at a summit in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, declared that end must come to militancy in the Niger Delta, to pave the way for commensurate development in the hitherto neglected region.
The summit on towards achieving peace and sustainable development in the Niger Delta, with the theme: “Promoting Peace, Democracy and Stability in Nigeria through the Media, Socio-Cultural Institutions and Youth Driven Community Based Groups,” was organised by the Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER), with the support of the Ford Foundation (West Africa Regional Office).
Emphasis at the summit was placed on capacity building, conflict prevention and management, as well as peace building.
In a nine-point communique, signed by the Executive Director of JODER, Mr. Adewale Adeoye, who is also a foremost journalist, it was stated that the summit was to strengthen a people-driven process for conflict prevention, conflict management and peace-building in the Niger Delta.
The programme also targeted primary and secondary beneficiaries, cutting across faith-based groups, community-based organisations, women groups, civil society organisations, security agencies, youth groups, organised labour and the informal sector, as well as representatives of various ethnic groups, including Ijaw, Isoko, Ikwerre, Ndoni, Ogoni, Urhobo, Efik, Ibibio, Itsekiri and non-indigenes in the Niger Delta, among others.
The communique read in part: “Participants demand deliberate urgent attention and actions in addressing the growing poverty rate, growing drop out of children in schools, due largely to poverty and economic misery, disruption of oil pipelines and the emergence of various groups making one agitation or another.
“Participants demand immediate cessation to all forms of violence in the Niger Delta and that critical stakeholders must embrace peaceful resolution of all the lingering crises in the region, through advocacy and necessary follow-up action.
“Participants noted that there is the urgent need to resolve the crises in the Niger Delta region in a honest, transparent and open manner, with the view to addressing the fears of the communities, the authorities, the multinationals and business community, as well as the agitators themselves.
“Participants condemn the invasion of indigenous Ijaw and other Niger Delta communities by armed security agents and frown against the gross human rights violations against the people by the military and other security agencies.”
The stakeholders also stated that the ongoing clean-up in Ogoniland of Rivers state’s four Local Government Areas of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme, should be extended to other lands polluted in the Niger Delta, without further delay.
They resolved to set up a working group on the Niger Delta, in order to constantly bring community leaders and civil society organisations together, towards finding people-driven solutions to the problems of the Niger Delta.
The communique also noted that: “Participants call on the Nigerian authorities to recognise the right to self-determination, as entrenched in the United Nations charter and other obligations of the UN on the rights of Indigenous people, including the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 on Biological Diversity.
“Participants demand speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the 8th Session of the National Assembly.
“Participants call on the government, communities and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta to see the need to explore the potential of working together, remove suspicion and mutual distrust, in order to deal with the hydra-headed problems that confront the people of the oil producing communities.”
The executive director of JODER, earlier in his welcome address, stated that the forest reserve of the Niger Delta had remained largely depleted and at present to an all-time low, with land utterly polluted, natural streams almost extinct and means of living under sever attacks, thereby posing a serious threat to generations unborn.
Adeoye said: “Previous efforts of governments at various levels to address the situation have not led to appreciable results, in spite of the huge resources committed to the process.
“Such efforts include the introduction of the 13 per cent revenue derivation, the setting up of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the establishment of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the recent adoption of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland’s environmental assessment, which the Nigerian Federal Government has promised to implement, leading to the recent kick-off of the Ogoni clean-up.
“Regrettably, the Niger Delta narrative has been consistent stories of violence, desperation and various vices associated with legitimate agitations of the people; “Irrespective of the various efforts of the governments, the Niger Delta remains fundamentally poor and vulnerable, with limited opportunities for the people to transform their lives in their own way, through self actualisation.”
JODER’s executive director also stated that notwithstanding the challenges facing the peace-loving people of the Niger Delta, they had the infinite ability to aspire to a greater future, founded on justice, liberty and respect for the dignity of the human person.
The Niger Delta is home to indigenous ethnic groups that have lived in their territories for thousands of years, while the region is a great ancestral homeland of many forest-dependent people, with a rich heritage of amazing culture and civilisation.
The Niger Delta is by far the second largest mangrove forest in the world, rich in natural resources, including but not limited to land and sea animals, the fauna, and hundreds of plant species, which add value to the diverse tributaries and estuaries linked to the vast ocean and the great River Nun and Niger.
The region has no fewer than 16 distinct ethnic nationalities, with history of shared heritage and cultural identities, including social and trade relations, long before the advent of colonial rule.
As with any other natural setting, there were a history of conflicts and strives among the nationalities, but the Niger Delta, however, remains one of the most critical nerve centres of the Nigerian economy, owing to its rich natural endowments and resourcefulness of the people.
The social and economic activities of the nationalities that make up the Niger Delta are linked to the environment, which supports the survival of the people, who depend on livelihoods generated by land and forests resources.
For half a century, the people of the Niger Delta have been facing various challenges to their survival, due to various adverse factors, including disruptive oil exploration, lack of opportunities, national malaise of corruption, forest devastation, depletion of sea and land resources, gas flaring and environmental pollution; the Niger Delta produces the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, which is crude oil and gas, but without equitable sharing/allocation of the resources, which remains a major source of conflict in the country.
