Niger Delta ex-agitator, Amagbein, calls for legal, strategic reforms in oil and gas sector

Niger Delta ex-agitator and the self-styled General Endurance Amagbein, has called for urgent reforms in the nation’s oil and gas sector in order to engender massive development in the oil-rich region.

Amagbein, in a statement issued to newsmen on Thursday by his media assistant, Alhaji Tobiah Never-Die, said the Niger Delta’s situation has reached the level where it can only be addressed through legal and strategic reforms.

He said he is very appreciative of the existing legal and strategic frameworks consciously developed by the efforts of successive governments since the era of late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua who established the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) which the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sustained.

Amagbein said he is also aware of the inroads ushered in the Niger Delta by the NDDC in the areas of youth empowerment through scholarships and other vocational trainings, provision of solar streetlights and so forth – not forgetting the Petroleum Industry Act which stipulates 3% production development plan for host and impacted communities.

However, Amagbein popularly known as Adaka Boro the second, said he is very worried about the continuous worsening conditions of living in the Niger Delta and other pitiable situations the people are faced with.

According to him, these situations are brought on by the inherent inadequacies in the existing legal and institutional framework; saying that since the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, no significant change has been witnessed in the Niger Delta in terms of development.

He said this is happening because the existing legal framework does not set standard of operations, maintenance and remediation and sanction plans for oil producing companies operating in the Niger Delta, as the 3% development plan is grossly inadequate.

He lamented that the law seems to be silent on the plight of the communities suffering from gas flaring and oil pollution brought about by pipeline sabotage and maintenance standards.

Aside this, he stressed that another worrisome situation is the fact that industry regulators appear not to have taken into account indigenous and local content regime when awarding surveillance contracts – thereby creating imbalance in the system.

Amagbein said awarding surveillance contracts to individuals in one LGA/State over oil facilities in another LGA/State offends the indigenous and local content regime; stressing that the idea of having strangers to man oil facilities in another man’s LGA/State is counterproductive.

While stressing the need for equity and fairness to all stakeholders, Amagbein stressed the need for legal and institutional reforms with particular focus on the Niger Delta – so that everyone can benefit from the system and not have their fates decided by one man.

Amagbein reiterated his support for President Bola Tinubu; saying that the people of the Niger Delta are solidly behind him for sustaining peace in the region.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled:  Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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