The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of focusing his anti-corruption war on Ijaws from the Niger Delta part of Nigeria.
The council also rationalised the activities of oil bunkers and operators of illegal refineries in the Niger Delta, charging the federal government not to stop their activities unless it has alternatives for the participants.
The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of focusing his anti-corruption war on Ijaws from the Niger Delta part of Nigeria.
The council also rationalised the activities of oil bunkers and operators of illegal refineries in the Niger Delta, charging the federal government not to stop their activities unless it has alternatives for the participants.
The President of the IYC, Udengs Eradiri, who stated this in a chat with journalists in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, claimed that engaging in the illegal activities was a means of livelihood for those involved.
Mr. Eradiri also condemned the reported cancellation of the Maritime University in Delta State by the present administration.
“Today even the institution that was set, such a special institution to build capacity of Nigerians, not only Ijaw people, just as they have police academy in the north, a special institute was set in the south, this vindictive administration have come and cancelled that university.
“Nigerians should calculate how much we have spent in capital flight sending our people abroad for special courses in the maritime sector”
“A university and programme were set up by Patrick Akpobolokemi (ex-NIMASA boss who is being investigated for graft).
Kingsley (Kuku, ex-presidential aide on Amnesty who is being investigated for corruption) brought peace to Niger Delta, stabilized this region, but today what are they paying him with?
“These individuals (Messrs Kuku and Akpobolokemi) should be people that would have been rewarded by Nigerians for their service to Nigeria,” Mr. Eradiri said.
He said if oil thieves are stopped from the illegal activities, it could give rise to another form of militancy in the region, which at its peak prior to 2009 reduced Nigeria’s crude oil production by about 50 per cent.
“Much as we support the war against oil theft, it must come with an economic plan as an alternative so that as you are going in to stop them from their way of life, provide an alternative,” he said.
“Engage, employ the youths who engage in illegal refining of crude in the creeks.
“But when you do otherwise, there will be effects.
“That’s why you are seeing the increase in crime rate, robbery is going up, kidnapping is on the increase, they are kidnapping even ice fish sellers now.
“It is because when you destroy their means of livelihood and you don’t create any alternative, it is a deliberate ploy to destabilize the Niger Delta so that businesses would not come here.”
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