Posted on: 02:20 Sun, 05 Jun 2016



President Muhammadu Buhari is
currently studying the gazette
signed by late President Umaru
Yar’Adua on the Niger Delta crisis
as one of the possible ways of
tackling the renewed violence
being orchestrated by the Niger
Delta Avengers in the region,
SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.

The purpose of revisiting the
gazette, it was further learnt, was
to ensure that all the agreements
contained in the document were
implemented by the Federal
Government.

The development is coming at a
time the destruction of oil facilities
in the Niger Delta by the militants
has crippled crude oil production
and power supply.

By Friday, power generation was
said to have dropped to 2,832.5MW
because of the attacks.

The Special Adviser to the President
on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi
Adesina, confirmed to our
correspondent on Saturday that the
Federal Government was doing all
within its ability to restore peace to
the Niger Delta.

Adesina listed some of the steps
being taken to include
consultations and the revisiting of
the document signed by the late
President.

“Every effort is being made to
restore calmness to the Niger Delta,
including consultation, and taking
a fresh look at the gazette signed by
the Umaru Yar’Adua government,
so that the agreements contained
therein will be implemented,” the
presidential spokesman said.

The Senior Special Assistant to
President on National Assembly
Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang,
had at a press conference on Friday
confirmed that some of officials of
the Federal Government were
already holding discussions on how
to end the violence.

Enang had said some ministers
along with top government officials
from the Niger Delta had opened
talks with the governors and
aggrieved people from the region
on how to resolve the conflict.

He said the government was
prepared to peacefully resolve the
conflict.

He listed Federal Government’s
representatives currently engaging
in dialogue with the stakeholders in
Niger Delta to include the Minister
of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman
Dambazau (retd.); Minister of Niger
Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru; Co-
ordinator, Amnesty Office, Gen.
Paul Boroh (retd.) and other
ministers from the region.

He said, “The Minister of Niger
Delta, the Minister of Interior, the
Coordinator of the Amnesty Office
have been taking actions consistent
with their powers and with what I
know, almost all the ministers and
officers from the Niger Delta region
have returned to their respective
states, zones and blocks to talk to
their leaders and their aggrieved
persons on the need for us to
maintain peace.

“That is going on and they are the
representatives of Mr. President. I
will not tell you what Mr. President
wants to do in person but these are
officers and offices which are
dealing with this matter.”