Minister of State in the Ministry of Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, was said to meet with leaders of the youths and militant groups in the region during the weekend.
Lagos-based Punch newspaper reported on Monday that the interactive session took place at Warri, an oil city in Nigeria's south-eastern Delta State. It was learnt that Orubebe unveiled the action plan of the new ministry in 2009 at the forum.
According to the report, the meeting which lasted about 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday, would be followed by the minister's visit to the creeks and operational headquarters of identified militant groups in the nine states of the Niger Delta, in which Rivers, Bayels, Delta are crucial parts of oil producing states.
Orubebe, during the dialogues, expressed the desire of President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua to create employment, develop and provide economic empowerment for the people of the Niger Delta.
He was also said to promise that actual presidential development initiative would commence in January 2009.
Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta has been in turbulence since the beginning of 2006 as militancy and criminal activities became more and more often in the area, leading to a sharp reduction of daily oil output by more than 25 percent compared with its peak production of 2.6 million barrels a day.