By Levinus Nwabughiogu

Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has dismissed insinuations that the Federal Government was working against the people of the Niger Delta.

He also said that the dialogue between the Federal Government and the people of the region to find lasting solutions to the lingering violence and pipeline vandalism in the region was on-going.

Speaking separately in Abuja, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier-General Paul Boroh (retd), urged  Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups in the coastal region to leave the creeks and enlist in the amnesty programme for a better future.

He spoke while welcoming four ex-agitators from the region, who had successfully trained in electrical transformer repairs, maintenance and establishment by Brainbox Matrix Services Limited, a vendor to the amnesty office.

Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu

Boroh, who was excited to see the former freedom fighters become qualified electrical engineers, said that the intention of President Muhammadu Buhari was to stabilize the Niger Delta region through human capacity development as well as infrastructural development.

Meanwhile, Kachikwu, who made the clarification weekend, in an interview at the end of the 2016 Convocation Ceremony of the Petroleum Training Institute, PTI, Effurun, Delta State, said that the President was very supportive of the project of ensuring that government reached an agreement with the people of the region through dialogue by ensuring that the old model which failed was restructured.

He said: “The dialogue with the militants has not collapsed. I have laid that process and the president is very supportive of that process. But what the president does not want to do is to put in place same model that failed after four months and militants are back to the creeks.

“We are looking at a long term model and I have presented to Mr President a road-map and it encompasses short, long term solutions, engagement and inclusiveness of the communities. We absolutely believe that the Niger Delta is key to the country, they have contributed so much in very many ways but the society has failed them

“And I use the word, society, not necessarily government because if you look at what has been provided over the years, it’s a lot and some of them have not got it right for certain reasons like corruption at different levels. We need to begin to look on how these benefits will get to them, so, let everybody be calm, destruction of oil assets doesn’t lead you anywhere.

“I am from here and every money that the state loses because of militancy is lack of development in the state. I went to the creeks and I talked with some of the militants and we dialogued and some of the results you are seeing today are the results of those dialogues.

“But I do agree that we must have a robust, permanent, aggressive, inclusive dialogue on the table.”

Kachikwu said PTI and its management team were the right answer to bridging the gap in producing the local manpower in the oil and gas industry.