Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa has called for follow-up discussions on issues raised during the just concluded meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the stakeholders from the Niger Delta region.
Dickson told statehouse correspondents that the follow-up discussions had become imperative in order to achieve the objectives of the ongoing dialogue in the Niger Delta region.
The governor assured that his colleagues in the Niger Delta region were partnering with the federal government in addressing challenges in the region, including militancy and sabotage of oil installations.
“But I said at the meeting we cannot discuss and agree on a master plan, moving forward in this meeting.
“I believe that there will be follow-up discussions where some of these issues will be taken up and discussed in greater detail.
“All the state governors are working in collaboration with the federal government and its agencies to ensure that these issues that we highlighted are addressed.’’
Dickson commended the President Buhari-led administration for embarking on the clean-up of the Ogoniland, saying the exercise would go a long way in addressing the issues of environmental protection.
“The federal government has done well, working with its partners to begin the clean-up in Ogoni.’’
Florence Ita-Giwa, a former Special Adviser on the National Assembly, also called for speedy resettlement of people of Bakassi Penisula.
She said that President Buhari commented on the issue, saying that they were not asking for the issue to be revisited but that of resettlement of the affected people.
“The President commented even in the history of Bakassi. What we are asking for, we are not asking for the issue to be revisited.
“What we are asking now is to be resettled in Nigeria as Nigerians that we have chosen to be. The President pledged that the government would look into it.
“We are not asking for the President to go back into the case, because that will be an exercise in futility. We want to be properly resettled in Nigeria as Nigerians,” she said. (NAN)