At
the two-hour closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, held
earlier today, the Leaders and Stakeholders of the Niger
Delta, led by elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark, presented a list of 16
issues for
dialogue.
The
issues presented ranged from Infrastructure needs to the
strengthening of institutions like the NDDC, allocation of oil blocs to
natives of Niger Delta, maritime university, matters of fiscal
federalism, Ogoni clean-up, employment opportunities for trained
ex-militants and support for the internally displaced persons in the
region.
Other
demands includes, relocation of international oil companies with
headquarters in Lekki and other places back to their areas of
operations, manpower and human resources development.
The President noted that they are already looking into many
of these issues and are also currently reviewing the implementation of
the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, to determine the shortcomings, and areas for reform.
Speaking
to State House correspondents after the meeting, Chief Edwin Clark said
they were well received by the President, adding that they were not at
the Presidential Villa for a battle.
"We have no other country than Nigeria. We cannot continue to destroy the assets of the country and the ecosystem of our environment." he said.
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