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Niger Delta leaders, under the auspices of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, met with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday as part of efforts to find a lasting solution to the Niger Delta crisis.
The Edwin Clark-led group made a 16-point demand at the meeting.
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”.
Some of the demands include:
- Allocation of oil blocs to natives of the region
- Maritime university
- Stoppage of military occupation of communities
- Proper funding of the amnesty programme.
- Extension of Ogoni clean-up to other areas of the region
- Employment opportunities for trained ex-militants
- Support for internally displaced persons in the region.
- 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
- True federalism
Clark who addressed State House correspondents after the two-hour closed-door meeting 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.
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.