The Federal Government has pencilled in a former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, to chair the proposed Niger Delta summit.
Already, the Presidency has contacted the international diplomat for the assignment.
Sunday Punch gathered that the Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was handling the arrangement on behalf of the government.
It was gathered that the apparent failure to get the nod of the Ghana-born diplomat was delaying the take-off of the summit.
The summit is meant to seek a lasting solution to the Niger Delta crises.
It was gathered that the government was also considering a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, as a viable alternative, in case Annan declined the offer.
A reliable source from the Presidency told our correspondent in Warri on Saturday that Anyaoku had also been contacted by Jonathan for the job.
Findings showed that the government settled for either Annan or Anyaoku because of the belief that a neutral and credible personality could effectively map out strategies that could solve the Niger Delta problem to lead the restive region out of the doldrums.
It would be recalled that Jonathan, in his remarks at the recent thanksgiving held to mark the 80th birthday ceremony of the Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, said Yar�Adua Administration was determined to seek lasting solutions to the lingering crises.
He said the proposed summit aimed at securing a far-reaching resolution to the crisis, would soon be inaugurated.
Jonathan had said the summit would be chaired by an unnamed international bureaucrat, adding that the the government was discussing with the employer of the bureaucrat with a view to ensuring his release for the assignment.
He said, �The Niger Delta Summit would be inaugurated by the President and Commander-in-chief of the armed forces very soon .The person who is going to serve as chairman of the summit is the working in a sensitive organisation outside the country and we are discussing his release so that the summit can take off.
Investigation showed that Annan was the international diplomat that Jonathan referred to as the chairman of the Niger Delta body.
The source in the Presidency said, �A former Secretary General of UN, the Ghana-born Kofi Annan, was being considered to head the proposed Niger Delta Summit conceived by President Umaru Yar�Adua�s administration to interact with all stakeholders in the region with a view to fashioning out lasting solutions to the lingering imbroglio in the area.
�The government has contacted an international figure like Annan in order to lend credence to its seriousness on the resolution of the Niger Delta question and more importantly the government wanted a neutral and credible person to handle the assignment.
�Kofi Annan is yet to respond for now and that is why the summit is yet to take off. But the Federal Government has settled for our own Emeka Anyaoku to head the summit in the case that Annan turns down the invitation to preside over the summit.
�We are, however, hopeful that Annan would concede at the end of the day because of the pressure on him by the Vice-President and other international figures whose support have been elicited by the Federal Government to pressure him to accept to serve as head of the summit,� added the source who craved anonymity.
When contacted on the phone at press time on Saturday evening, the Minister for Special Duties, Presidency, Mr. Godsday Orubebe, declined comment on the efforts by the government to bring Annan to the country to assist in the search for peace in the region.
Orubebe, however, said that a credible personality would head the summit apparently to underscore the importance attached to the body by the President.
Orubebe said the summit would take off in the next few weeks.