Youth leaders in the Niger Delta have asked 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 as the framework for resuming oil production in Ogoniland.
The call was made by the Niger Delta Ethnic Youth Leaders Forum during a stakeholders meeting on Thursday, August 6, 2026, convened by PINL in Port Harcourt for host communities along the Eastern corridor.
Speaking at the event, Spokesman of the Forum and President-General of the Ogoni Youths Federation, Legborsi Yamaabana, said the youths are not opposed to oil resumption, but want full inclusion in the process asserting that the Ogoni oil fields have remained shut for 33 years.
“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, of inclusion, of carrying the host community along.”
“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.”
General Manager, Community and Stakeholder Relations at PINL, Dr. Akpos Mezeh, told the meeting that operations on the TNP and the Eastern Gas Network ran largely without interruption in the past month. He attributed the stability to collaboration with security agencies, contractors and host communities.
Mezeh linked the engagement approach to bigger regional projects, including the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline. The proposed 6,900-kilometre pipeline is designed to move 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually from Nigeria to Morocco and is now covered by a sovereign framework agreed by ECOWAS Heads of State.
“World-class energy infrastructure can only thrive where pipelines are secure, communities are peaceful, and stakeholders work together.”
The Head of NNPC Limited Project Monitoring Office, Akponime Omojevwhe also commended the Emohua zone for recording zero cases of infraction or vandalism during the period under review.
Traditional rulers at the forum, including the paramount rulers of Emohua and Eleme kingdoms, said PINL’s engagement model has changed how oil and gas operations are done in the region. They urged the company to sustain the approach.
The youths said replicating the model in Ogoni would help build trust and ensure host communities benefit directly when production resumes.