FG To Open A ‘Robust Dialogue’ With Niger Delta Avengers – Lai Mohammed, Kachikwu

The
minister for information and culture with the minister of state for
petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday, May 23, 2016 said the federal
government is considering opening a robust dialogue with the Niger-Delta
militants on the need to stop militancy in the oil rich region.

The duo who spoke an interactive session
with a coalition of civil societies in Lagos, chaired by Dr. Moses Ilo,
founder of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, stressed that
nefarious activities of militants is currently sabotaging efforts being
made by the government to revamp the nation’s economy.

Mohammed while lamenting the situation
said there was no other solution to the issues happening in Niger Delta
other than engaging them in meaningful dialogue.

According to Kachikwu the government has
come to realize that rolling out military tanks against the militants
would not solve the problem.

“The military barrels cannot stop or
solve problem of militancy in the Niger–Delta region. I will have to go
back to my brothers, they are our brothers we will go and dialogue with
them,” Kachikwu said.

He said the continued audit of the
country’s daily fuel consumption resulted in weeding out 10 million
liters of fake petroleum products that was daily subsidized by the
previous administration.

Kachikwu lamented that the fund spent in
subsidizing the pretentious consumption daily could have been used by
the federal government to fix the refineries, roads and other basic
amenities across the country which would have helped improve the
Nigeria’s economy.