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Vice President Goodluck Jonathan made the appeal on Monday while inaugurating the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The committee is to recommend to the Federal Government how the issues of the Niger Delta would be addressed adequately.
The Vice President, who described the Niger Delta as a war zone, said the crisis in the region needed to be addressed imperatively because of its negative impact on the economic activities in the region.
He noted that the problem had gone beyond hostage-taking and pipeline vandalisation to the distortion in the economy of even the region.
Jonathan recalled that the crisis had resulted in the collapse of the traditional ways of life in certain communities. According to him, "there are some communities that you get to, the young men carry rifles and move freely," adding that there is no way such a community could develop.
"This activity is impacting on all aspects of our economy. Most of the private companies are moving to Lagos and elsewhere and if this trend continues, then the whole economy of the Niger Delta will be destroyed," he said.
"Port Harcourt is gradually becoming a ghost town. The economy of Port Harcourt is gradually collapsing. The Onne terminal is becoming another ghost area", Jonathan added.
The ceremony was attended by all the six governors in the South-South geo-political zone. The Vice President described the agitation of the region as a genuine one. According to him, the youths who are agitating have genuine grievances which emanated from the neglect of the area by past administrations.
He stressed that the people of the Niger Delta needed development and the country has reached a point where the government has taken notice of it.
Jonathan disclosed that the various stakeholders in the region would soon have an opportunity of sitting together with President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua at a summit to come up with a holistic programme for the development of the Niger Delta. But to get to this point, he stressed, there must be peace in the area.
"For everybody to come together to resolve the crisis in the Niger Delta, to solve our problem and see how the area will be repositioned for economic growth and for human and infrastructural development, then there must be a cease-fire. We are using this opportunity to plead with our youths that they have made a case", he said.
He noted that the struggle, which started before the discovery of oil in commercial quantity, had reached a point for negotiation. He also gave assurance that the present administration was committed to the resolution of the crisis.
Every state in the region has been mandated to set up its own peace committee. The central committee, which was inaugurated on Monday, will be co-coordinating cross board conflicts and interstate crisis in the region.
It has as Chairman Senator David Brigidi and secretary, Kingsley Kuku. The committee is made up of 18 members. Two persons representing each state, four from the oil firms, and one each from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The committee is to liaise with the groups in the region, security agencies and report to the Federal Government. The Vice President said that the terms of reference of the committee would be reviewed every 12 months based on the progress made.
The Rivers State Governor, Celestine Omehia, said that the respective states had already set up their peace committees based on the directives of the Vice President. He pledged that the committees would reach out to the militants in the creeks.
Omehia added that the committees would ensure that militants who turn a new leaf would be rehabilitated and entrench peace in their respective states.
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