The Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum and Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities have called for a comprehensive review of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

In a communiqué issued after a strategic meeting in Port Harcourt on Wednesday night, the groups said the programme must be restructured to preserve its original goals of equity, peace and stability, rather than allowing it to drift into “murky political waters.”

The stakeholders also demanded an upward review of the monthly stipends paid to ex-agitators, which they noted had remained at N65,000 despite inflation and the weakening value of the naira.

They further urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to decentralise pipeline surveillance contracts to ensure fairness, inclusion and sustained peace across the Niger Delta.

According to them, unless urgent steps are taken to correct perceived imbalances in government policies and security arrangements in the region, tensions may escalate, particularly over oil and gas infrastructure surveillance contracts.

The groups said restructuring the current surveillance framework would restore equity, prevent politicisation of peace-building institutions and strengthen public confidence.

They recalled that during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, pipeline surveillance contracts were decentralised among Niger Delta communities, a move they said improved local participation and ownership of national assets.

According to the communiqué, the policy contributed significantly to increased crude oil production, which rose to about 2.4 to 2.5 million barrels per day before May 2015.

The stakeholders, however, lamented that despite increased spending under the current centralised system, Nigeria has struggled to meet its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production quota.

They insisted that the poor results justify an urgent audit and review of the existing surveillance structure, stressing that decentralisation does not amount to disorganisation. (Daily Trust)

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