NIGER DELTA youth leaders, yesterday, described the recent call by a Northern leader, Mr. Junaid Muhammed, for a reduction of the current 13 per cent derivation to five per cent, scrapping of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and Ministry of Niger Delta, as an invitation to war.
The youth leaders, Austin Ozobo, National President of Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI; Musa Biayeibo, President of Niger Delta Youths For Positive Change, NDYPC; Ebi Wayas, President, National Association of Izon-Ebe Law Students, NAILS, and Jude Asiayei, President, Coastal Heritage and Economic Watch, CHEW, spoke to newsmen in Warri, Delta State.
According to Ozobo, “Except the demand for resource control is approved, there is going to be another oil crisis in the Niger Delta region.
“The Niger Delta will not accept or tolerate such abuses from the North any longer because our region has been feeding the North for a very long time, and the North should be grateful to the people of Niger Delta.
“No level of intimidation from the North will deter the region from its stand on the issues of resource control and creation of more states in Niger Delta region.
“Remediation for Niger Delta environment that has been despoiled by oil exploration and exploitation can only come through resource control since the government at all levels have failed the region. The North should, therefore, sheath its sword over its stand on resource control to avoid war and disintegration in the country.”
BY Emma Amaize
