Resource Control: IYC Reads Riot Act To Ijaw Confab Delegates

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, May 15, (THEWILL) â€' The radical Ijaw youth organisation, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), has issued a strong warning to delegates attending the ongoing National Conference from the Niger Delta region over their position on resource control.

IYC has threatened to declare as persona non grata any delegate who deviates from the contentious issues of resource control.

The group had already rejected the decision of the Obong Victor Attah's Sub-Committee on Resource Control and Derivation which had maintained the current status quo of 13 percent as derivation for oil producing states and quashed the issues of resource control.

IYC described as saboteurs delegates from the Niger Delta making 'unauthorised and reckless contributions' on the floor of the conference to the detriment of the Niger Delta region.

In a statement by its spokesman, Eric Omare, the IYC Worldwide said it rejects in its entirety the decision of the National Conference Sub-Committee on devolution of power and resource control to maintain the current status quo of 13 percent as derivation for oil producing states and thereby rejecting the demand for resource control.

The statement read : 'This decision is retrogressive, anti-federalism and totally unacceptable to the Niger Delta people.

'The Committee's decision to maintain the status quo and refusing to address the crucial issue of resource control betrays the expectation of Nigerians and Niger Deltans in particular that the National conference would right the wrongs of the past, deepen our federal system of government and put Nigeria on the path to development.'

'This is nothing but a triumph of the retrogressive and provocative agenda of reactionary forces in Northern Nigeria'.

'The IYC wishes to warn that the decision of the Niger Delta people to give peace a chance to allow the federal government address the problems of the Niger Delta should not be taken as weakness.'

'The Niger Delta people are still willing, ready and capable of bringing the Nigeria economy to its knees.'

'The opposition of reactionary northern delegates to resource control and demand for scrapping of the NDDC, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Amnesty programme are provocative to the Niger Delta people and we may be forced to take drastic actions.'

'These are interventionist agencies created for specific purposes which are not only beneficial to the Niger Delta Region but the entire country as demonstrated in the astronomical increase in the nation's revenue as a result of the Amnesty programme.

'The IYC working with other ethnic nationalities and stakeholders in the Niger Delta would in the coming days review and take a position on the way forward.'

'The IYC strongly call on southern delegates, particularly Niger Delta delegates to the National Confab, to insist on resource control during the debate in plenary and not to deviate from the position of the region on resource control under any circumstance.'

'The IYC has observed with dismay the unauthorised and reckless contributions of some Niger Delta delegates who have taken positions which amounts to deviation and betrayal of the Niger Delta position.'

'Any Niger Delta delegate who deviates from our position on resource control would be declared a persona non grata and would not be allowed to return to the region.'