ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE
Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has accused the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of excluding and neglecting the Niger Delta people in the area of infrastructural development.
The IYC, therefore, advised President Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, not to test the resolve of the people of the region.
Spokesman for the IYC, Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe, complained in a statement on Sunday that despite the fact that the region produces the oil and gas wealth used by the Federal Government to embark on infrastructural development initiatives in the country, the region is neglected and excluded.
He lamented the lopsided sharing pattern of the roads to be constructed by the present administration between Northern and Southern Nigeria and the exclusion of other vital federal roads, particularly in Bayelsa State.
Ekerefe said despite years of peaceful and intellectual agitations by Ijaw youths under President Buhari, his administration had continued to “rob Peter (Niger Delta) to pay Paul (other regions)”, warning that the region might change its tactics in order to confront the Federal Government.
He also berated the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, for his alleged lacklustre posture which led to the exclusion of federal roads in Bayelsa in the proposed 21 roads to be undertaken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) covering 1804.6km at a cost of N621.2bn tax liabilities.
He said, “For us in the IYC, it did not make sense for the NNPC to spend N621.2bn tax liabilities on road projects. Where is the money coming from? Is it not from the coastal states, creeks and oil wells of the Niger Delta? What are the benefits of oil exploration, if the Niger Delta people are alienated from the benefits of the wealth generated from our backyard?
“We are amazed at the boldness of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to allocate, out of 1804.6 kilometres of road to be constructed by NNPC, only 288.22 kilometres were allocated to the South while 1,516.38 kilometres of roads were allocated to the North.
“Shockingly, they announced a mere rehabilitation of Odukpani-Itu-Ikot Ekpene road in Cross River State Section I: Odukpani-Itu Bridge Head in Cross River/Akwa Ibom states, 21.9km, dualisation of outstanding portion of Odukpani-Itu-Ikot Ekpene: lot 2. 32km and the dualisation of Oku-Iboku Power Plant Section of the Odukpani-Itu-Ikot-Ekpene road in Cross River/Akwa Ibom states, 28km.
“A mere 52.2 kilometres of rehabilitation and dualisation was allocated to Cross River and Akwa Ibom states out of the six states of the Niger Delta. If the National Assembly and the Nigerian nation must know, President Muhammadu Buhari is robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“If the Niger Delta people decide to severe the wealth supply, no one should blame us. We will no longer consult or give ultimatum, but we will shock the Nigerian nation for the brazen injustice and marginalisation meted out to our people. We have been patient enough!”
The IYC spokesman also expressed doubt about the promises made by the Federal Government on the Brass Fertilizer Company, the Brass LNG and the modular refinery.
He insisted that it might be a fluke if such an important Nembe-Brass road project is not included in the proposed projects to be undertaken by the NNPC which the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources supervises.
He further said, “It is evident that Bayelsa State and other states in the region are no longer areas of interest to the President Buhari administration. And we wonder what the ministers from the region, especially Chief Timipre Sylva, is still doing in the cabinet of President Buhari who does not mean well for his region.
“Or is Sylva and others claiming not to be aware that they have been incapacitated to make inputs in the numbers of roads to be constructed by the NNPC? It must be pointed out that when the IYC called for a town hall meeting with Sylva over the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), it was not only to listen to rhetorics on the Act but to deliberate on the possible ways the youths will work with cabinet ministers from the region to get results under the President Buhari administration.
“But now, we have discovered that the ministers from the region and the entire administration are irredeemable. We, therefore, call on President Buhari to direct NNPC to revisit this injustice and review the approved roads to adequately include substantial federal roads in the Niger Delta that are begging for urgent attention.
“Again, if they like, let them pay deaf ears as the government has always done, but let it be on record, that we have warned and nobody should blame us if the youths of the region speak in a language that the Federal Government will understand.
“While we have studied the body language of President Muhammadu Buhari and his ministers on these issues, we have discovered that it is a deliberate act to provoke unimaginable action from the people of the Niger Delta.”