By Ola ‘Kiya, Reporting
PAN Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the apex Niger Delta socio-cultural organisation, has spoken on the ongoing discoveries on oil theft, floodings, the obnoxious water resources bill and other pressing national issues.
These were contained in a communique issued after PANDEF’s extraordinary meeting held last Thursday in Abuja and chaired by the forum’s national leader and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark.
Following the recent discoveries of crude oil thieving traceable to the high and the mighty, the group called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipreye Sylva, to, first, apologise to Niger Delta people.
The apex socio-cultural Niger Delta organisation also urged the president and Minister to urgently launch a full-scale investigation by constituting a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to ascertain the perpetrators of the outrageous economic sabotage.
The crucial meeting, which focused on the state of the nation, had in attendance members of the PANDEF Board of Trustees, the National Executive Committee (NEC) and State Executive Committees (SEC).
Others were other critical stakeholders of the Niger Delta region, including former governors, former ministers, former members of the National Assembly, traditional rulers, former ambassadors, academics, political and business leaders, civil activists, women and youth leaders.
While empathizing with other Nigerians, all over the country, over loved lost ones to the ravaging floods, PANDEF called on President Buhari to visit Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states, to assess the level of damage and destruction.
The body also called on relevant agencies of the Federal Government as well as the international and indigenous oil companies, other corporate bodies and well-meaning individuals to assist ravished flood victims in the region.
The communique read in part:
“PANDEF particularly calls on the Federal Ministry of Works, the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), NDDC, the military and other relevant agencies of the federal government to immediately initiate repair works on the collapsed portions of the East-West Road, which have resulted in the isolation of the entire Bayelsa State from the rest of the country.
“We further call on the Federal Ministry of Works to begin an assessment of the quality of work on the all-important East-West Road, which connects the oil-producing states of the country.
“PANDEF also constitutes a Twelve-man Committee to coordinate its relief efforts for the flood victims.
“And calls on the Federal Government to urgently undertake comprehensive technical studies and plans with timelines for a solution to this question of flooding including building new Dams like Zungeru and Kashimbila, as was undertaken by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
“With the admission by the management of the NNPC, of the existence of the sophisticated syndicate, which for several decades, has continued to siphon the wealth of the country; PANDEF calls for an apology to the people of the Niger Delta, who have been falsely accused over the years.
“This huge state of oil theft further reinforces our call for True Federalism to afford our people better participation in the operations and management of the wealth in the Niger Delta.
“We further request the Federal Government to set up the mechanism for setting up modular refineries around the Niger Delta to bring an effective end to artisanal refining.
“Going forward, the Amnesty Programme should be extended to include the full re-integration of all beneficiaries.
“PANDEF condemns the insistence of the Federal Government to pursue its obnoxious Water Resources Bill and restates that it will be sternly resisted.
“PANDEF again reminds the current South-South Governors, and incoming ones, as well as other elected officials, to be rededicated to good governance and unity on all issues about the region.
“PANDEF notes the efforts of the National Assembly to amend certain Sections of the 1999 Constitution; urges that the process must be comprehensive in the direction of True Federalism.
“The meeting expresses appreciation to its National Leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, OFR, CON, other leaders and the entire membership, for their continuous commitment to the peace and unity of the Niger Delta region and the enthronement of a fairer, more egalitarian Nigeria, where equity, justice and fairness reigns.
“Furthermore, PANDEF urges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to sustain the recently recorded improvements in the nation’s electoral process and ensure that the 2023 Elections are free, fair, credible, and reflect the will of the Nigerian electorates, expressed through the votes cast, in all polling units, across the country.”
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