It has been revealed that 16-point demand was presented to President
Muhammadu Buhari by Niger Delta leaders on Tuesday, at the meeting he had with
them in Abuja.
They said the 16 points were where "quick wins"
could be achieved to restore hope and confidence in a region that has "grown
skeptical of dialogue and engagements that have hardly produced tangible
results".
The demands include allocation of oil blocs to natives of
the region, maritime university, stop of military occupation of communities and
proper funding of the amnesty programme.
The demands also include extension of Ogoni clean-up to
other areas of the region, employment opportunities for trained ex-militants
and support for internally displaced persons in the region.
Other demands are relocation of international oil companies
that have their head offices in Lekki and other places back to their areas of
operations, infrastructural development, manpower and human resources
development, federalism, among others.
Addressing State House correspondents after the two-hour closed-door
meeting with the president, an elder statesman from the region, Chief Edwin
Clark said Buhari received them very well.
He said they were not at the Presidential Villa for a battle
with Buhari, saying the meeting was a combination of all interest groups, Daily
Trust reports.
Clark cautioned that "We have no other country than
Nigeria. We cannot continue to destroy the assets of the country and the
ecosystem of our environment."
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu,
said Buhari told the stakeholders that he did not want a quick solution but
wanted to dig into what the real problems were.
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