By Ogadinma Wokoma | National News
Youth leaders from the Niger Delta have called on the Federal Government and the Ogoni Dialogue Committee to adopt the community engagement model used by Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL) along the Eastern Corridor of the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) as part of efforts to resume oil production in Ogoniland.
The Niger Delta Ethnic Youth Leaders Forum said the model, developed by PINL, the integrated pipeline infrastructure company responsible for the Eastern Corridor of the TNP and the Eastern Gas Network, provides a practical template for the dialogue process currently underway over the return of oil production to Ogoniland.
The Ogoni oil fields have remained shut for 33 years following prolonged environmental, political and community concerns.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting convened by PINL in Port Harcourt for host communities along the Eastern Corridor, spokesman of the forum and President-General of the Ogoni Youths Federation, Engr. Legborsi Yamaabana, said Ogoni youths were not opposed to the resumption of oil production but insisted that they must be fully included in the process.
“There is a model that PINL has adopted and implemented in the Niger Delta, and that model is working. It is a model of constructive engagement, inclusion and carrying the host community along,” Yamaabana said.
He expressed concern over what he described as the exclusion of Ogoni youths from the ongoing dialogue on oil resumption.
“In all of this dialogue, the youths of Ogoniland have been excluded. If those driving the Ogoni re-entry lack ideas, they should go and meet PINL for the model they are using to succeed,” he said.
Yamaabana said meaningful participation by host communities would be critical to achieving sustainable peace and uninterrupted operations in the region.
At the meeting, Dr. Akpos Mezeh, General Manager, Community and Stakeholder Relations at PINL, said operations across the Trans Niger Pipeline and Eastern Gas Network had remained largely uninterrupted in the past month.
He attributed the stability to sustained collaboration among security agencies, contractors and host communities.
Mezeh also noted that the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline project, designed to transport 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually from Nigeria to Morocco and now backed by a sovereign framework agreed by ECOWAS Heads of State, would require similar conditions of peace, security and community cooperation.
“World-class energy infrastructure can only thrive where pipelines are secure, communities are peaceful, and stakeholders work together,” he said.
Also speaking, Engr. Akponime Omojevwhe of the NNPC Limited Project Monitoring Office commended the Emohua zone for recording no case of infrastructure-related infraction or vandalism during the period under review.
Traditional rulers at the meeting, including the paramount rulers of the Emohua and Eleme kingdoms, commended the community engagement approach, saying it had helped to improve relations between oil and gas operators and host communities.
They urged PINL to sustain the model, stressing that continuous dialogue and inclusion remained essential to maintaining peace and protecting critical energy infrastructure across the Niger Delta.
The call by the Ogoni youths comes amid renewed efforts by the Federal Government and stakeholders to address longstanding issues surrounding the possible resumption of oil production in Ogoniland.
