Ovie Okpare
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Saturday dismissed rumour that the proposed a dialogue between the Federal Government and Niger Delta had collapsed.
Kachikwu stated, “It (dialogue) has not collapsed, I have led that process and the president is very supportive of it. What I think the president does not want to do is to put in place same old models that have failed and which after four months, the militants will return to the creeks. We are looking at long-term models.’’
The minister made this known on Saturday while speaking with journalists at the 2016 convocation of the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State, where he acted as a visitor to the institution.
He said the Federal Government was considering other road maps that would bring permanent peace to the region.
The minister said aside the proposed open dialogue with the militants, he had also been reaching out to the aggrieved youths in the region through ‘secondary’ means. He said it was the reason for the relative peace and halting of further attacks on oil facilities noticeable in the region in recent months.
Kachikwu also asked the institution to give employment to three best students in the Ordinary National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes.
In his welcoming speech, the Principal of the PTI, Professor Sunny Iyuke, told guests that the institution would be collaborating with the Wits University, South Africa to begin postgraduate diploma programme in fields related to oil and gas.
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