Joy Emmanuel Yenagoa
Niger Delta youth leaders have urged the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to implement the palliatives pledged by Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo during his tour of the region. Th e youths made the call when the leadership of the Niger Delta ExAgitation Forum and Niger Delta Non Violent Youth Leaders Assembly paid a courtesy visit Mr Kennedy TonjoWest in Yenagoa yesterday.
TonjoWest is the Senior Special Assistant to Bayelsa State Governor on Niger Delta Youth Matters. Prince Amaibi Horny who spoke for the ex-agitators under the Amnesty scheme noted that the region was eagerly awaiting the implementation of promises made during the factfi nding visit by the Acting President. .Horny observed that most of the palliatives aimed at stabilising the Niger Delta region and consolidating the peace process lied within the purview of the NNPC.
According to him after several months of conclusion of the tour, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Mr Maikente Baru was yet to take steps to move forward. “It is shocking to know that since Maikente Baru assumed offi ce as NNPC he has not initiated or implemented any project or program that will deepen the existing peace painstakingly put in place by the president. “Th e current peace is due to extensive consultative engagement by the Acting President’s dialogue with stakeholders during his tour of the region. “Instead of commencing some of the projects and issues narrated by youths and people of the region in this period of peace to upgrade his score card, the GMD feels very unconcern about the plight of the region.
“His only interest is to waste the scare resources in the white elephant project of search for oil in the North East, we challenge Baru to come out clean and show the public the companies benefi tting from seismic activities in the North. “ It is unfair to be taking resources from the Niger Delta and neglect the region,” Horny said. Mr Tonye Jeminimiema who spoke for Niger Delta Non Violent Youth Leaders Assembly noted that Dr Ibe Kachikwu had traversed the region promising that President Buhari administration was committed to developing the Niger Delta. Jeminimiema urged the Acting President to prevail on NNPC to step up its activities to redeem federal government’s pledge to the region during his tour which includes the establishment of modular refi neries.
