By Tekena Amieyeofori
At about 1:30 a.m. on a Wednesday in 2016, while the Niger Delta slept, the first familiar blast in years went off, a reminder to the Federal Government that it had refused to put its cards on the table after the 2009 peace deal with repentant militants.
In the darkest hours of the night, the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, launched an offensive targeting the Bonny-Soku export line that feeds the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, plant and Gbaran facilities.
The campaign of violence lasted six months. Subsequent attacks targeted the Forcados pipeline on 14 February and Chevron platforms in May. Renewed hostilities cut Nigeria’s daily oil output by roughly one-third, to its lowest level in 30 years.
The group cited many reasons for the attacks, chief among them the Federal Government’s insincerity in addressing the age-long administrative neglect of “a region that lays the golden eggs.” The NDA’s position was summed up in its slogan: “The Nigerian government needs our cooperation more than we need the government.”
The relapse to violence forced Abuja to revisit the 2009 peace deal. The offensive was also largely responsible for the 2016 economic recession that compelled the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari to seek rapprochement with groups in the region.
PANDEF’s Emergence
Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was delegated to douse tension in the Niger Delta. He held town hall meetings with diverse groups across communities.
Regional leaders had a role to play: to convince agitated youths to give peace a chance and engage the Federal Government in frank discussions about the region’s future.
The outcome of extensive consultations was a shift from violence to dialogue. The Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, mobilised by Chief Edwin Clark, of blessed memory, and other leaders, including state governors, elder statesmen, serving and retired technocrats, activists, traditional rulers, youths and professionals, swung into action to halt violence and promote dialogue.
On 1 November 2016, they met with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where they presented 16-point demands as a precondition for lasting peace, security and development in the beleaguered region.
Broken Promises
The 16-point demands, the product of extensive consultations with local communities, were designed to sustain peace, security and development.
To the dismay of Niger Deltans, the government has carried out selective implementation of the blueprint. It only scratches the surface of the yearnings of oil- and gas-producing communities.
Most worrisome to stakeholders is the government’s reluctance to implement key demands, including provision of critical regional infrastructure; relocation of International Oil Companies, IOCs, headquarters from Lagos to the Niger Delta; inclusion of Niger Deltans in oil block ownership; remediation of polluted sites; and economic empowerment for vulnerable communities.
At an expanded meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, in 2023, PANDEF considered re-presenting its 16-point demands, citing lacklustre implementation of a blueprint meant to transform the region and improve Nigeria’s economy.
“If the Federal Government has been following what it promised, by now you would have seen tremendous progress,” said Sen. Emmanuel Ibok-Essien, PANDEF’s immediate past national chairman.
Almost 10 years later, the Niger Delta remains largely backward. Development is stifled by decaying infrastructure and many unmotorable roads.
The East-West Road reconstruction, which began in late 2006, has suffered repeated delays. As of 31 May 2023, Sections 1-2 had been fully paid for, with 47 kilometres completed. The biggest bottleneck remains the 15-kilometre Eleme-Onne axis — the gateway to the nation’s key economic assets in the Niger Delta.
The road was built to serve as the region’s economic artery: to connect isolated communities, move goods from rural areas to urban centres, and stabilise the economy. Repeated postponements due to inadequate funding have driven up transportation costs, stranded goods, and created oil and gas logistics bottlenecks.
Other roads are in a similar state of disrepair. They include the Asaba-Ugbolu-Illah Road linking Delta to Edo and Kogi states, the Amukpe-Eku-Agbor Road, the Calabar-Itu-Uyo Highway, the Benin-Warri Expressway, and the Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway. Commuting on these roads has been nightmarish, yet they remain the only option for those who cannot afford air travel.
Weeks ago, PANDEF protested the region’s exclusion from the Federal Government’s recently announced N3.9 trillion road projects covering 15 states.
“Of the 27 road projects, the only one close to the Niger Delta is the road connecting Cross River to Benue,” said Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali, PANDEF’s leader.
A Cycle of Economic Disempowerment
A 2026 multidimensional poverty projection by the World Bank and PwC forecasts that between 56% and 63% of the region’s population lives below the poverty line. Widespread poverty in Nigeria’s oil belt is linked to continuous environmental degradation and rising unemployment in the post-insurgency period.
Poverty is fuelled by economic disempowerment; an issue regional leaders tried to address in the 16-point demands through modular refineries to legally engage jobless youths.
After the peace deal, many youths turned to siphoning crude from vandalised pipelines and artisanal refining for survival. Today, most of them have been pushed out of what the government describes as economic sabotage.
Kingsley Isoboye was one of them. Like many of his colleagues, he lost his livelihood after the crackdown on illegal bunkering and artisanal refining.
“I have no means of survival, and no hope to improve my situation,” Isoboye said.
Years after the 2016 peace deal, only a handful of modular refineries including Waltersmith, Aradel and OPAC have been established. However, prohibitive costs and stringent licensing have shut out the youths.
For some energy analysts, dislodging youths without providing alternatives wastes local refining knowledge Nigeria urgently needs amid energy insufficiency.
“With optimal production, the Niger Delta region can dominate all of Central and West African markets with refined petroleum products due to its geographical location,” Igali said.
New Interventions, Heightened Pessimism
Since 2016, the Federal Government has rolled out several programmes through the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. The latest is the $500 million Niger Delta Agricultural Development Investment Fund, launched to diversify the economy, create jobs and generate wealth.
Development analysts say the fund could transform the region, given its vast agricultural potential.
“Agriculture offers the region a pathway to food security, employment, investment and lasting prosperity,” said NDDC Managing Director and CEO Dr. Samuel Ogbuku.
The idea looks good on paper. But many fear it could go the way of previous white-elephant projects without deliberate action.
The NDDC was created by an act of parliament to drive development in oil-producing communities. Its mandate: “To facilitate the rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful.”
Over the years, the commission has executed projects across the region. Yet its scorecard shows it has not met the aspirations of many communities. Observers blame political interference for its service delivery threshold.
“What I will request is for us who are the political class not to overstress the NDDC so that they can perform,” former President Goodluck Jonathan said in July 2024.
The $500 million agricultural fund has drawn cautious optimism.
“Our experience in the past shows there is nothing to be excited about,” said Dr. Emem Bridget Okon, executive director of Kebetkache Women’s Development and Resource Centre.
She insists that “women should be central to the design and implementation of the programme to make it successful.”
Way Forward
Ten years after PANDEF presented its 16-point demands, the Niger Delta is still waiting for the Federal Government to match promises with action. Decaying infrastructure, rising poverty and economic exclusion continue to define the region that funds the Nigerian state.
New interventions like the $500 million agricultural fund will only matter if they are implemented transparently and inclusively with women, youths and host communities at the centre.
Until then, peace in the Niger Delta will remain fragile. And as the 1:30 a.m. blast that Wednesday in 2016 reminded Abuja: when dialogue fails and development stalls, the pipelines will speak again.