… berates Senate for ‘betraying’ stakeholders
ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, YENAGOA
The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has kicked against the upward review of 30 per cent earmarked for frontier explorations with proceeds of the region’s resources.
The IYC aligned with the Ijaw National Congress (INC) and Southern governors in condemning the Senate for approving three per cent for host communities in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
In a statement on Saturday, spokesman for IYC, Ebilade Ekerefe, noted that it was a rape of justice for host communities to be allocated 3% by the Senate and 5% by the House of Representatives as against the unanimous 10% agreed by stakeholders of the region during a meeting with the National Assembly members.
Ekerefe said that the injustice and the action of the Senate was already agitating the minds of Ijaw youths.
He warned that the development was capable of threatening the already fragile peace in the region.
Ekerefe called on the Federal Government to realise that an interrupted oil flow in the region is capable of stopping the NNPC from selling the crude and getting the 30% to fund frontier explorations.
He said: “The IYC is therefore urging the federal government not to compound the feelings of Niger Delta with devastating consequences. The National Assembly should jettison primordial sentiments and keep the host communities 10 per cent as agreed by stakeholders.
“We caution that anything less than the agreement of stakeholders reached with the National Assembly could be seen as a deliberate attempt to undermine the region which will be unacceptable.”