By Dennis Otuaro

The Niger Delta has never had it so good, enjoying a period of peace, stability and development. Although some challenges remain, the last two years under the administration of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have indeed been momentous for the region. Consequently, age-old grievances are melting away, hope is renewed, and the cry of marginalisation, which the area had been known for, is gradually fading as a result of this administration’s deliberate policies and interventions.

The first pointer that the President meant business for the Niger Delta was at his inauguration on that fateful day in May, 2023. He had pledged that, ’whether from the winding creeks of the Niger Delta, the vastness of the northern savannah, the boardrooms of Lagos, the bustling capital of Abuja, or the busy markets of Onitsha, you are all my people. As your president, I shall serve with prejudice toward none but compassion and amity towards all.’’

Two years on, the President has indeed kept that promise, with development strides and appointment of Niger Deltans into key government portfolios and roles. For me, as I listened to him on that inauguration morning, little did I know that I would be one of his foot soldiers to take the message of renewed hope and development ‘’to the winding creeks of the Niger Delta.’’

I was appointed in March 2024 as the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), amidst keen competition for the role. I was selected, I believe, due to my academic and professional records and my history as a person who has been involved in the Niger Delta’s struggle for justice, equity, greater say in resource management, and a better life for our people.

Since my appointment, I have contributed my modest quota to ensuring that the President’s vision of development, peace and security in the Niger Delta is achieved. I have steered the Programme towards ensuring these goals through significant investment in human development, with the knowledge that the best way to develop a society is to empower its people by educating them.

READ ALSO: Amnesty Boss, Otuaro, Pledges Inclusive Programme For Niger Delta Communities

When I was appointed, only a few hundred students were on the Programme’s scholarship. I have since expanded that to over 3000 students, selected across the length and breadth of the region, in a process that is open, fair and transparent. That way, the son of a fisherman and the daughter of a farmer stand a chance of a quality education, fully funded by the federal government, making the President’s promise of a renewed hope not just a campaign slogan, but something the Niger Delta can feel and touch.

We have also revitalised the overseas scholarship scheme, which had been suspended before my appointment. Now, over 60 Niger Delta indigenes are pursuing studies in the UK, US, Canada and other countries sponsored by the government. We also ensured that these courses, whether for undergraduate or postgraduate students, are development-focused, which can help the speedy growth and transformation of the Niger Delta.

Vocational training programmes have also been ramped up, with the training of 40 aircraft engineers, 98 maritime cadets at the Joemarine Institute in Delta State, and others, thereby enhancing the Niger Delta’s human capital in critical sectors. On the Programme’s core mandate of ensuring the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-agitators, we have ensured the prompt payment of stipends and implemented comprehensive data management reforms to eliminate duplicates and update the records to reflect training completion. We also seek job placements, training and career opportunities for ex-agitators, their families, and those in impacted communities.

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Perhaps because of these record achievements, the budget for the Programme was increased in the current financial cycle. In addition, I think it was reviewed upward because of the President’s love of the Niger Delta and commitment to right the historic injustices against the region and the people. This demonstrates that his pledge to be fair and just was not just political talk but one that he is truly committed to.

That is probably the reason why the Niger Delta is the only region with two intervention development agencies. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 to address the socio-economic and environmental challenges of the Niger Delta region from the impact of oil and gas exploration and foster sustainable development.

The NDDC has played that role since its formation with some measure of success. However, recently, when regional blocs started clamouring for similar agencies to tackle their peculiar developmental challenges and the President acquiesced to their requests, setting up the northwest, north-central and other agencies, the popular thinking was that there was no need to establish one for the Niger Delta region because of the existence of the NDDC. But the president, perhaps aware of the outsize role the Niger Delta has played as the main source of foreign exchange revenue for the country in the last 60 years, didn’t follow this line of reasoning. He established the South-South Development Commission with its headquarters in Akwa Ibom State and approved a significant budget for its take-off.

The President deserves commendation for his bold efforts to tackle head-on the developmental challenges of the Niger Delta and bring the region to the central focus of his development agenda. If you asked me, I would dare say the President is positively biased in favour of the Niger Delta, quick to approve projects and key appointments for the region and its people.

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A few examples will suffice. While the former President had dilly-dallied with endorsing the Maritime University Okerenkoko Bill, President Tinubu signed it immediately the bill reached his desk, thereby providing the necessary legal framework for the university to thrive and become a hub for maritime education and research in the coastal belt of the country.

He also signed the bill establishing the Federal University of Environment and Technology (FUET) in Ogoni land, Rivers State, designed to provide more opportunities and development in the area. The clean-up of Ogoni land through the environmental remediation efforts overseen by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has also intensified under President Tinubu.

As with Ogoni, so it is with the rest of the Niger Delta. Our rivers are cleaner, our air is fresher, and our people can fish and farm again, as the government has tackled oil bunkering and theft, which have polluted both the rivers and land in the region. Security agencies, in collaboration with private consultants such as Tantita Security Services, under the supervision of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, have reduced oil theft, bunkering, and destruction of oil and gas infrastructure. The impact has been immediate and growing such that Nigeria has doubled its daily oil production to around 1.6 million, meaning there are more funds for the Niger Delta states to carry out development projects through the 13 percent derivation allocation.

And there is more. Niger Delta indigenes now lead key government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama; Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe; Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Mobereola; and Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA), Dr. George Kelly, amongst others.

As we roll out the drums to celebrate the President’s second anniversary, it is good to let the world know that the President’s Niger Delta scorecard is sterling, demonstrating his love and commitment to the region and people. We thank him with the assurance that someday soon, we will pay back in FULL.

Otuaro, Phd, is the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

Paramount ruler of Okochiri, Rivers State, His Royal Majesty, King Ateke Tom, has debunked the reports making the rounds that he clashed with the Administrator of the Niger Delta Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr. Dennis Otuaro.

Recall that some platforms had reported earlier that King Ateke Tom had publicly humiliated the amnesty administrator during his birthday celebration in Okochiri, Monday, and that the development sparked tension during the event.

But in a statement signed and made available to newsmen by Ifeanyi Ogbonna, Media Assistant to King Ateke, the Amanayabo of Okochiri, while describing the report as false, emphasised that he has never had any form of misunderstanding with the amnesty boss.

READ ALSO: Birthday: Otuaro Felicitates King Ateke Tom, Lauds His Contribution To N’Delta Peace

He further stated that his interest has remained in the development of the region.

King Ateke noted that such a report was misleading, fabricated and nothing but a figment of the writer’s imagination, laced with mischief and aimed at stirring unnecessary controversy in the region.

The statement stated: “Contrary to the claims in the concocted report, King Ateke Tom’s birthday celebration held seamlessly, peacefully, and in high spirits. The celebration witnessed an influx of respected leaders, dignitaries, friends, and well-wishers from across the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large.

“We state that there was no time during the birthday event that confrontation, rebuke, or embarrassment, as alleged by the mischievous reporters, ensued between His Majesty and the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

READ ALSO: Otuaro Repositioning PAP; Detractors Steer Clear – Rivers Monarch, Ateke Tom Cautions

“The allegation that King Ateke Tom rejected monetary gifts from Dr. Otuaro and labelled him as insincere is not only baseless, but an insult to the intelligence of all who were present at the event.

“This falsehood seeks to sow seed of discord, damage reputations, and derail ongoing peace-building efforts in the region. We urge the public to disregard this cooked up narrative designed to mislead and misinform them.

“However, it is important to state that His Majesty is deeply interested only in the peace and development of Niger Delta and would not derail any event that would strengthen it.”

Ateke, however, cautioned media practitioners and commentators against the dissemination of unverified and sensational information that threatened the peace and unity in the region, even as Ateke urged well-meaning Niger Deltans to focus on the bigger goal of regional development and transformation.

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, may have updated its telecom identity risk management policy, TIRMP, allowing a window of one year for an inactive phone line to be reassigned to a new subscriber.

The TIRMP platform is NCC’s way of developing a cross-sector platform to collect and share data on churned (recycled) phone numbers as well as numbers that have been flagged as having been used for fraudulent activities, as reported by other sector regulators.

A reliable source at the commission told Vanguard that the platform would help prevent the misuse of numbers when they change hands. The information on this platform will be made available to relevant stakeholders across various sectors.

Vanguard gathered authoritatively that the commission is putting plans in place to launch the updated policy framework by the 4th quarter of this year.

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The source said the new initiative aligned with the commission’s strategic vision plan, which aims not only to meet the quality-of-service expectations of telecom consumers but also address their quality of experience, involving every touchpoint they encountered within the telecommunications ecosystem; from onboarding processes, such as SIM registration, to offboarding, which is when they choose to leave a network.

The new guidelines states that when a phone number has not carried out any revenue-generating event, outgoing or incoming calls or SMS, charged USSD sessions, data use, or any activity on the line that generates income for the operator, for over 180 days, the MSISDN is deemed inactive.

If this inactivity continues for another 180 days, that is a total of 360 days, the line becomes eligible for churning, and recycling.

“The QoS Regulation and Business Rules 2024 provides that after 365 days without any Revenue Generating Event carried out on a line it can be churned by the operator,” the source said.

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What that means is that the Mobile Network Operators who have leased these lines from the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, are free to reassign them by putting them back into the market.

The source added: “Numbering resources, such as telephone numbers and short codes, are the backbone of modern telecommunications. They are governed globally by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU, under Recommendation E.164, which ensures efficiency, and equitable access to numbers across borders.’’

The NCC stated that numbering resources were inherently scarce because each number must conform to a fixed length and format, yielding only a finite set of valid combinations.

Information on the commissions website states: “In Nigeria, the NCC, mandated by the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, manages and allocates these critical resources on behalf of the federal government.

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‘’The NCC assigns number ranges to licensed operators and services (mobile, fixed, and special) in a manner that promotes fair competition, protects consumers, fosters innovation, and aligns with ITU standards and global best practices.

“The recycling of lines presents challenges, particularly when the previous owners of reassigned numbers still have those numbers linked to services they used before the numbers were recycled. It presents issues of security and integrity of phone number ownership.”

The new policy will reduce fraud risks and improve digital and financial services by enabling service providers to proactively detect and act, particularly to high-risk numbers, while updating their customer details where applicable.

“The NCC will host the platform and establish its regulatory and operational framework. We are currently working with the CBN, security agencies, and other key stakeholders, with a beta solution already being tested” an NCC source revealed to Vanguard.