By Francis Sadhere

The Chairman of Egbema Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation (EFCDF), Chief Michael Johnny has described the November Tuesday 1, 2016 meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and Niger Delta leaders as a failure accusing the leaders  of embarking on selfish mission.

According to him, nothing new was discussed at the stakeholders meeting with the President and urged that the 13% derivation should be given directly to the people in the communities and not the governors.

Speaking in a telephone interview while reacting  to the outcome of the dialogue between President Buhari and leaders of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, (PNDF), Chief Johnny expressed disappointment over the shopping list presented by the Niger Delta to the President.

“Our leaders went for dialogue with President when guns are still in the hands of the militants who have been blowing up oil facilities in the region. The Forcados Truckline has been attacked severally by militants. But the attacks on our oil facilities can be checked when leaders of our various communities are involved directly. Our leaders went on selfish mission; I expected them to discuss massive development of the region, but they went demanding for oil blocs and irrelevant things”, he said.

While calling on the Federal Government to establish Naval bases at strategic locations to check attacks on oil facilities, the EGCDF boss added that the major network providers such as Glo, Airtel, and MTN should be encouraged to provide services in the riverine communities where militants are having a field day attacking oil facilities.

“Once there are naval bases in places like Gbaramatu kingdom and Ogulagha kingdom, the leaders of the various communities are involved directly in the protection of pipelines and we have Glo, Airtel and  MTN networks in the riverine communities for easy communication, attacks on oil facilities will reduce or eliminated totally,” Johnny added.

He also described the amnesty programme as a fraud, saying that the programme cannot change anything in the Niger Delta region, and advised that the money used for the amnesty programme be channeled to other lucrative projects.

According to him,the 13% derivation should be given directly to the people in the communities and not the governors, noting that a yearly budget be made on how the money should be spent and let the communities manage their own projects.

“The people that are giving President Buhari security report about the Niger Delta are not telling him the truth. I must tell him this. The Minister of Petroleum (state) Dr. Ibe Kachikwu is not giving him the proper information and solution that will bring peace and stop these attacks on oil facilities  in the region. The President should know that the boys have acquired a lot of guns  in the Creeks”, he added.

“You cannot say you are dialoging for peace and you leave arms in the hands of criminals. What kind of dialogue is that? If they want dialogue then they should tell their people to stop the bombing. There is no way dialogue can hold in the middle of a war. You must come to a round table to discuss the issues. But as long as they are still bombing, then they are not ready for dialogue.

“The only thing that can settle the issues of the Niger Delta is that the Federal Government should separate criminality from the genuine agitations.

And there are two options to stop the present bombing. The Avengers wants  freedom for some ex-militant leaders;  they want their bank accounts to be opened, they want the  contracts of these ex-militant leaders to be returned to them. They want those with running contracts with   NIMASA to get them back. Some of these ex-militant leaders  want their freedom to control the presidency as they used to do. These are some of the conditions that could bring peace”, he said.

He added that;”So, they can decide to free these well known ex-militant leaders,  forgive them and give them back all their  contracts so that they will continue to control the presidency or they choose another path. This is the only way peace can come to the region because they are spoiling the  business of these well known ex-militant leaders”

According to the EGCDF boss also;”If the Federal Government is not comfortable with these conditions  because they feel that negotiating with criminals is a lucrative and the youths will pick up arms, then they should separate criminality from the genuine agitations. They should not allow criminals take advantage of the under-development in the region.

My demands from the Federal Government, I am speaking as a Nigerian, is that let there be fair treatment to the Niger Delta region, let there be fiscal  true federalism in terms of appointment, oil block allocation and implementation of the local content.”

He said that;”Construct roads to the Niger Delta communities for easy access to these communities. In that way, investors will be attracted to the communities in the region. Investors are afraid to pass through the water to get to these communities. But if you construct a road to these communities investors will be confident because there is going to be easy access”.

“Put a military formation in Gbaramatu kingdom, Forcados and Ogulagha kingdom. Put police stations in these communities and provide network access to the people too. Work with the community leaders and youths; put the pipeline surveillance in the hands of the communities. Let each community guide their  own community. Let the communities sign an MoU with the oil companies and government that if anything happens to the pipelines, the community leaders will be held responsible. Then any money you are paying to anybody should be paid directly to that person’s account”

“The amnesty programme is a fraud. The amnesty programme cannot change anything in the Niger Delta region. The money used for the amnesty programme should be used for another lucrative project”.

“I want our security operatives to use intelligence gathering to fish out those still bombing our oil facilities at a time the country is passing through economic recession that is affecting Nigerians and nobody should try to associate me with these bombings. I have a eligible means of living. I have  a registered company that is putting food on the table for my family and so I have nothing to do with the destruction of our oil facilities.Let the security operatives do their work to get to the root of the matter and I still want to appeal to those claiming responsibilities for the destruction of our oil facilities to give peace a chance”, the EGCDF boss said.