NDYC Applaud Niger Delta Leaders’ Presentation To FG

The youths of Niger Delta region have commended leaders of Niger Delta region for their 16 point presentation to the Federal Government.

The youths under the aegis of the Niger Delta Youth Coalition (NDYC) said there was wisdom in the presentation and if actualized, the steps would bring peace and remedy loss, injustice and marginalization of the people of the region.

Speaking to the newsmen in Port Harcourt, on Saturday, the National coordinator of NDYC, Prince Emmanuel Ogba stressed the need for full participation of both oil bearing and producing host communities in the exploration process of oil and gas.

“It’s by involving the host community people that they could get their fair share or quota of employment, protect the oil facilities as co-owners and ensure standard operations as observed in their parts of the world where oil and gas are being produced”.

“The community people should rather partner with multinationals on exploration of oil and pay tax to the Federal Government. That’s what is obtainable in other oil producing nations of the world, and Nigeria cannot be an exception”, he said.

Ogba urged the National Assembly to enact Petroleum Industry Bill that would observe international standard and due benefits to communities on whose land God deposited the oil and gas.

He also decried the high level of degradation in the region and called on the government not to limit remediation to Ogoni land alone but to extend the clean up exercise to all oil producing communities in the region.

The group called on the militant groups to stop their attacks on oil installations, emphasizing that it was wrong for the militants to continue with their attacks while negotiation is going on.

“Let all the aggrieved militant groups stop destroying the oil and gas installations and give the Federal Government time, say, for one year, and if no tangible result is noticed, then they can question why”, he said while advising the government to check its utterances and ensure they do not provoke the boys to negative reactions.

He described the present negotiation as another golden opportunity for Nigeria to get it right and expressed confidence in the presentation so far made to the government.

The NDYC coordinator stated that practice of true federalism remains the lasting solution. “If true federalism is adopted, not only oil and gas producing regions but every other region will be abreast of its benefits and responsibility and there would be less rift”, he said.

Sign………………………………….

PRINCE EMMANUEL OGBA
National Coordinator.
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