The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) marked its tenth anniversary on 27th October 2026, with a meeting of its Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee in Abuja and virtually. Chaired by Obong Victor Attah, with National Chairman Godknows Boladei Igali, the gathering reviewed a decade of advocacy and issued a 48-point communiqué demanding 50 per cent derivation, environmental remediation, better infrastructure and economic opportunities. Yet the celebration unfolded without Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, the ebullient, tough-spoken elder statesman whose interventions helped give the organisation national relevance. Clark died in February 2025, aged 97. His absence sharpened the question: can PANDEF sustain his courage and influence? PANDEF, the Pan Niger Delta Forum, was established in 2016 to unite regional organisations, ethnic nationalities, traditional rulers and political leaders around the shared interests of the South-South’s six states: Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers. Its 16-point agenda, presented to President Muhammadu Buhari on 1st November 2016, demanded action on pollution, infrastructure, resource control and development. The forum can point to gains, including advocacy around the South-South Development Commission (SSDC), the Nigerian Maritime University at Okerenkoko, upgrading of the Maritime Academy in Oron, and efforts to ease inter-state and inter-ethnic disputes.

Its current communiqué again presses for an increase in derivation from the constitutional minimum of 13 per cent to 50 per cent, removal of the onshore-offshore dichotomy, transparent funding of the Ogoni clean-up, and remediation in Nembe Creek, Odidi and Kula. It supports port development, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, rail connectivity, gas processing, modular refineries, agriculture and a proposed South-South Investment Fund (SSIF). These are substantial concerns, but communiqués are not achievements. PANDEF’s public profile appears less forceful than in its formative years, when Clark’s interventions routinely challenged Abuja and commanded national attention. Its tenth anniversary must therefore be a turning point, not a ceremonial pause. The forum should speak not only for the Niger Delta, but also for justice, accountable government, democratic institutions, national security and unity, working alongside other regional bodies where interests converge. PANDEF must also strengthen its own foundations. It should demonstrate transparent, democratic internal decision-making and ensure that all communities and states recognised within Nigeria’s Niger Delta development framework are heard. Although PANDEF represents the six South-South states, the Niger Delta Development Commission covers nine states, including Abia, Imo and Ondo. The forum must not be perceived as a mouthpiece for one ethnic nationality or a narrow circle of elites.

Above all, PANDEF should demand public audits and measurable outcomes from federal and state agencies spending funds meant for Niger Delta uplift, prioritising oil-host communities and the region’s most difficult riverine terrains. Its next decade must be judged by cleaner environments, safer communities, jobs and functioning infrastructure. We wish PANDEF a more vibrant future.