On November 1, 2016, the Niger Delta elders met with President Muhammadu Buhari and presented a 16-point agenda to him. According to Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria’s Petroleum minister, they “had a frank conversation with the president.” Debates have been on about whether or not President Buhari will adopt the agenda.

The sixteen-point agenda constituted the following:

• The presidential amnesty programme
• Law and justice issues
• The effect of increased military presence in the Niger Delta
• The plights of internally displaced persons
• The Ogoni clean-up and environmental remediation
• The Maritime University issue
• Key regional critical infrastructure
• Security surveillance and protection of oil and gas infrastructure
• Relocation of administrative and operational headquarters of IOCs
• Power supply
• Economic development and empowerment
• Inclusive participation in oil industry and ownership of oil blocs
• Restructuring and funding of the NDDC
• Strengthening the Niger Delta ministry
• The Bakassi question: Recommend a comprehensive resettlement plan including development for the host communities and displaced population
• Fiscal federalism: The region supports the call for true federalism and urged that federal government should treat the matter expeditiously

Niger Delta has suffered insecurity, oil spillage and exploitation by oil companies over the years. So it comes as no surprise that most of the points in the agenda are necessary for the development of the region, which has stalled for several reasons.

One need not look at Niger Delta through a microscope before the importance of some of these points can be seen. The long stall of the development of the oil region has arguably given birth to militancy. To address this concern, in 2009, under the late Umaru Musa Yar’adua presidency, the Presidential Amnesty Programme was launched. The initiative was aimed at the disarmament and demobilization of the militants and their reintegration into the society.

During his first hours in office, President Buhari announced the termination of the amnesty programme. But he later said the programme will not be totally cancelled, rather, it will be reviewed and built upon. Unfortunately, till this day, the review of the amnesty programme has not seen the light of the day.

In order to achieve a significant development of the Niger Delta, the amnesty program is not the only scheme to be worked upon. The regional development agency, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has to be overhauled or restructured. Since the creation of NDDC, a lot of money has been allocated to it for the development of the region but with very little output.

“The Senate is very worried about what is happening in the Niger Delta. A lot of money has been voted for the execution of projects but very little is seen on the ground. So, the Senate mandated us to carry out a holistic investigation into the activities of the NDDC to determine how well it has performed its functions. That is why we are here to carry out a comprehensive investigation,” said Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, a member of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs.

According to the report of the Ministerial Technical Audit Committee on Contracts Awarded by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, between 2009 and 2015, the Federal Government spent over N700 billion on 427 contracts in the Niger Delta region. 70 percent of those contracts are still ongoing, 18 percent of the contracts were stalled, and only 12 percent have been completed. If these contracts had followed through, they could have addressed the major issues outlined in this new 16-point agenda. But as is common in Nigeria, many of the contracts appeared on papers but weren’t followed through in actuality.

With the economy of the country slowing down, the funding of this agenda by the government might be another thrill assassination. But if this money were to be gotten through oil companies, private investors, and maybe partly funded by government, too, will it be unaccounted for like previous allocations, or will the loose ends be tied to ensure the execution of these projects?

If the president eventually decides to adopt this agenda presented to him, then he needs to learn from the history of fiscal waste and poor, half-baked results. The issue of duplicated functions among the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, NDDC and the management of the Presidential Amnesty Programme is also a very important yet to be addressed. Since all of these departments are working towards the development of the oil region, they could be merged under a single ministry and probably with different departments.

Last week, the government kicked off ‘7 Big Wins’, a guidebook for the development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. The development plan includes a $10 billion (N4 trillion) infrastructural renaissance program in the Niger Delta region. If all these structural adjustments are not effected before such a large amount of money is pumped into the development of the region, it will most likely be the same thing as emptying cups of sugar into an ocean.