The Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva has sued for sustainable peace in Niger Delta so as to encourage multinational oil companies to relocate their operational headquarters to the oil-rich region.
Sylva gave the charge in Abuja at the weekend when Niger Delta Nonviolence Agitators Forum (NDNAF) invested him as its patron and peace ambassador. People of Niger Delta had for some years been clamouring for multinationals to relocate their headquarters to the region to boost economic activities in the region and douse ethnic tensions. At the event, Sylva said: “What I must say here is that the essence or core of your organisation is nonviolence and that is the essence of what we want in Nigeria. We must bring peace to Niger Delta. Sometimes, we are worried that investment opportunities are not coming to Niger Delta, but we must realise that it is our activities that will determine whether these opportunities will come or not. Right now, we are saying that oil companies must move their headquarters to Niger Delta. But we must ensure that the place is peaceful enough for the oil companies to move to the region. Because if the place is insecure, you will believe that no oil company will agree to go to the region.”
In his remarks, the National President of the forum, Wisdom Ikuli, said through Sylva’s unquantifiable sacrifices, over 30,000 ex-combatants were disarmed and inducted into the Disarmament, Demobilization, De-radicalization and Reintegration (DDR) initiative of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP). He said: “Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, has changed the fortunes of many Niger Deltans and this to a large extent has led to a drastic reduction of crime and criminality in the region,” he said.