RIVERS TRADITIONAL RULERS DECRY MILITANCY IN NIGER DELTA
The Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council has said that it no longer recognizes militancy as a means of struggling for resource control in the region because “such activities are very parochial, uncivilized and only serve the interest of those who engage in them.”
To this end the monarchs want “our youths to rather adopt democratic process, dialogue and public relations approach in agitating for our share of the national wealth”. Such civilized tactics by various groups should be jointly made to achieve the desired results.
A communique after a three-day retreat by the natural leaders in Port Harcourt, condemned “cultism, gangsterism, militancy in any form, hostage taking, kidnapping and illegal oil bunkering as means of struggling for resource control.”
Accordingly, the chiefs said it “observed that these activities enumerated have always impacted negatively on the peoples of the Niger Delta. Therefore, we hereby call on all people of Rivers State involved in such undemocratic acts to stop forth-with and come out from the creeks and other hideouts for rehabilitation”.
In the 29-point communique signed by the chairman of the council, His Eminence Chukumela Nnam Obi 11, Oba (Eze Ogba) of Ogbaland and communique chairman, King Frank Eke, Eze Gbakagbaka, Eze Oha Evo 11, the group said “government should involve the traditional rulers in its efforts regarding the rehabilitation of such repentant youths.
The attention usually given to the youths through the community development committees, CDC, and youths bodies to the detriment of the traditional rulers should stop. Also, the antics of divide and rule being adopted by some organizations should stop forthwith.
A bill should be made in the state Assembly to create oil producing communities which is usually constituted as 60 percent for the state government, 40 percent for the local government councils and out of the 40 percent, 10 percent representation should be for the actual oil producing communities as is the case in some states.
The roles of traditional rulers as those closest to the grassroots people should be entrenched clearly in the constitution so that they would have the legal mandate to govern the people.
Further to these, they said, the “Niger Delta Development Commission should collaborate with the Rivers State Council of traditional rulers to appraise the Niger Delta Master Plan as it affects Rivers State”
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
KIDNAPPERS DEMAND N50 MILLION
Kidnappers of Eni Odili, nephew and aide of former Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili, have demanded N50 million as ransom for the man who was taken hostage, Sunday, on his way from church service in company of his wife and children.
Also, some suspected armed robbers gunned down a man in his car, yesterday afternoon, in front of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt , after the man’s car had been brought to an abrupt halt and money on him demanded at gunpoint.
Repots gathered that the abductors of Eni reached the family of Odili and insisted on making the money available in “good time if” they wanted the man alive, failing which the result would be unpleasant.
However, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, said on phone that the command had established contacts with the kidnappers and “moving closer to setting Eni free from the kidnappers.
We established contacts with them yesterday (Sunday) and that was when they demanded the money. We hope to get him released very soon, but I can assure you, we are not going to encourage ransom payment, it makes these criminals go on in the act”, he said.
Meanwhile, JTF and Army Public Relations Officer, 2 Amphibious Brigade, Port Harcourt, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, disclosed shortly after the kidnap, Sunday, that the army, navy, SSS and other security agencies had been “put on red alert".
According to him, “on hearing the news, the JTF commander, Brig. Gen. Sarkin-Yaki Bello, placed all units on red alert, including those on the high seas, with the view to arresting the culprits.
The SSS and police components of the JTF have promptly swung into action, checking all suspected areas or places in the state with a view to getting him released”, he said.
Relatedly, a man whose identity was unknown was shot dead in front of the Federal High Court by some unknown gunmen who may have mistaken him for another man carrying money.
Witnesses told reporters that the “men in the other car suddenly crossed the man and jumped out of their car demanding for money. The man said he did not have money but they disbelieved him and first shot the front tyre.
Insisting on making him part with his money, the gunmen still asked him to release the money now or die and when the man said he did not have any money, they shot him dead”, at blank range and sped off.
At the police headquarters, an officer in the office of the Police PRO said she was “attending a meeting with the commissioner of police and may be late in coming back to the office”.
Also, some suspected armed robbers gunned down a man in his car, yesterday afternoon, in front of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt , after the man’s car had been brought to an abrupt halt and money on him demanded at gunpoint.
Repots gathered that the abductors of Eni reached the family of Odili and insisted on making the money available in “good time if” they wanted the man alive, failing which the result would be unpleasant.
However, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, said on phone that the command had established contacts with the kidnappers and “moving closer to setting Eni free from the kidnappers.
We established contacts with them yesterday (Sunday) and that was when they demanded the money. We hope to get him released very soon, but I can assure you, we are not going to encourage ransom payment, it makes these criminals go on in the act”, he said.
Meanwhile, JTF and Army Public Relations Officer, 2 Amphibious Brigade, Port Harcourt, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, disclosed shortly after the kidnap, Sunday, that the army, navy, SSS and other security agencies had been “put on red alert".
According to him, “on hearing the news, the JTF commander, Brig. Gen. Sarkin-Yaki Bello, placed all units on red alert, including those on the high seas, with the view to arresting the culprits.
The SSS and police components of the JTF have promptly swung into action, checking all suspected areas or places in the state with a view to getting him released”, he said.
Relatedly, a man whose identity was unknown was shot dead in front of the Federal High Court by some unknown gunmen who may have mistaken him for another man carrying money.
Witnesses told reporters that the “men in the other car suddenly crossed the man and jumped out of their car demanding for money. The man said he did not have money but they disbelieved him and first shot the front tyre.
Insisting on making him part with his money, the gunmen still asked him to release the money now or die and when the man said he did not have any money, they shot him dead”, at blank range and sped off.
At the police headquarters, an officer in the office of the Police PRO said she was “attending a meeting with the commissioner of police and may be late in coming back to the office”.
CULTURAL FESTIVALS IN BAYELSA STATE
FESTIVAL TOWN/LGA DESCRIPTION PERIOD
Eremutoru Festival Peretoru in Ekeremor LG Ceremonial Dec – Jan 2nd
Ikpai-Kpai Festival Ekowe in Southern Ijaw LG Ceremonial 1st January
Oguberi Festival Ndoro in Ekeremor LG Ceremonial Feb/March
Opuaduno Lake Akeddeowei/Opuaduno in Fishing every March
Fishing Festival Southern Ijaw LG
Seigbein Fishing Festival Sagbama in Sagbama LG Fishing 27th May
Seigbein Fishing Festival Amassoma in Southern Fishing 28th - 30th May
Okolode Festival Ekpetiama Clan in New Yam 5th June
Yenagoa LG
Uge Adiafa Festival Atissa Clan in Yenagoa LG New Yam 25th June
Obunem Festival Epie Clan in Yenagoa LG New Yam 1st Week of July
Ogori ba Uge Festival Odi in Kolokuma Killing of Buffalo 27th July
/Opokuma LG
Odemimom Festival Otuoke in Ogbia LG To Commemorate Last Saturday of
the Harvest Season Oct. Every Year
Tungbo Liberation Day Tungbo in Sagbama LG Ceremonial 1st October
Izogua Annual Festival Otuokpoti in Ogbia LG Ceremonial November
Amasinghan Festival Aleibiri in Ekeremor LG Ceremonial 20th – 25th December Asi Oge Festival Ekeremor in Ekeremor LG Ceremonial 20th – 25th December
Ikagi Masquerade Nembe Bassambiri in Nembe LG Ceremonial Every 20 Years
Idumangi Olali Okpoama in Brass LG Festival of Deities Every Seven Years
Igboruma War Canoe Otuokpoti in Ogbia LG Ceremonial Periodically
Lake Ifi Fishing Festival Sabagreia in Kolokuma Fishing Periodically
Opokuma LG
Idumangi Festival Nembe in Nembe LG Traditional Periodically
Eyal Awani Festival Idema in Ogbia LG Ceremonial
The Ancient War Canoe Nembe in Nembe LG Ceremonial
Reggatta of Nembe
Isemi Festival Nembe in Nembe LG Traditional
Famgbe Beach Festival Famgbe in Yenagoa LG Ceremonial
Abadiyai Annual Festival Tabuama, Twon-Brass Ceremonial
in Brass LG
Okoti Agori Masquerade Diebu in Southern Ijaw LG Ceremonial
display
Eyal Asigho Okoroba in Nembe LG Ceremonial
Eremutoru Festival Peretoru in Ekeremor LG Ceremonial Dec – Jan 2nd
Ikpai-Kpai Festival Ekowe in Southern Ijaw LG Ceremonial 1st January
Oguberi Festival Ndoro in Ekeremor LG Ceremonial Feb/March
Opuaduno Lake Akeddeowei/Opuaduno in Fishing every March
Fishing Festival Southern Ijaw LG
Seigbein Fishing Festival Sagbama in Sagbama LG Fishing 27th May
Seigbein Fishing Festival Amassoma in Southern Fishing 28th - 30th May
Okolode Festival Ekpetiama Clan in New Yam 5th June
Yenagoa LG
Uge Adiafa Festival Atissa Clan in Yenagoa LG New Yam 25th June
Obunem Festival Epie Clan in Yenagoa LG New Yam 1st Week of July
Ogori ba Uge Festival Odi in Kolokuma Killing of Buffalo 27th July
/Opokuma LG
Odemimom Festival Otuoke in Ogbia LG To Commemorate Last Saturday of
the Harvest Season Oct. Every Year
Tungbo Liberation Day Tungbo in Sagbama LG Ceremonial 1st October
Izogua Annual Festival Otuokpoti in Ogbia LG Ceremonial November
Amasinghan Festival Aleibiri in Ekeremor LG Ceremonial 20th – 25th December Asi Oge Festival Ekeremor in Ekeremor LG Ceremonial 20th – 25th December
Ikagi Masquerade Nembe Bassambiri in Nembe LG Ceremonial Every 20 Years
Idumangi Olali Okpoama in Brass LG Festival of Deities Every Seven Years
Igboruma War Canoe Otuokpoti in Ogbia LG Ceremonial Periodically
Lake Ifi Fishing Festival Sabagreia in Kolokuma Fishing Periodically
Opokuma LG
Idumangi Festival Nembe in Nembe LG Traditional Periodically
Eyal Awani Festival Idema in Ogbia LG Ceremonial
The Ancient War Canoe Nembe in Nembe LG Ceremonial
Reggatta of Nembe
Isemi Festival Nembe in Nembe LG Traditional
Famgbe Beach Festival Famgbe in Yenagoa LG Ceremonial
Abadiyai Annual Festival Tabuama, Twon-Brass Ceremonial
in Brass LG
Okoti Agori Masquerade Diebu in Southern Ijaw LG Ceremonial
display
Eyal Asigho Okoroba in Nembe LG Ceremonial
NIGERIA LOSES N5.3TRN TO N-DELTA MILITANCY
NIGERIA: JTF'S INVASION ON ODIOMA NOT AUTHORIZED - ARMY
Three years after the destruction of the ancient coastal town of Odioma in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State by men of Joint Task Force, the military high command has broken its silence on the matter saying the President did not authorize any military operation in the community neither is it proper for the JTF to conduct a unilateral operation.
The coastal settlement of Odioma, one of the oldest communities in the Nembe Kingdom was invaded and reduced to rubbles by a combined team of army and navy under the auspices of the Joint
Taskforce at the invitation of the former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha in the wake of the killing of 12 persons including four councilors allegedly on peace mission to Obioku along the Nembe creek by unknown gunmen.
The Defence Headquarters position is contained in a paper tendered before the House of Representatives Investigative Hearing into the Petition by Odioma community made available to Vanguard in Yenagoa.
Testifying before the House, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Andrew Azazi, who was represented by Rear Admiral M. Ajadi and Navy Captain A.K Owho-Chuku of the Defence Headquarters said there was no where in the military records or any where else to indicate that the Joint Task Force carried out the alleged operation in Odioma on February 19, 2005.
The position of Defence headquarters read in part: "To start with, there is nothing in our records or anywhere else to show that the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta carried out the alleged operation in Odioma on February 19, 2005.
In the usual military tradition, every incident deserving of attention, is usually reported to an appropriate superior authority.
But in the instant case, it was neither reported to any military authorities nor made public through newspapers, radios etc, considering the magnitude and scale of destruction in the alleged JTF operations in Odioma.
"It shall be noted that on February 19, 2005, neither did the President and Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) nor any other person exercising authority under his hands, ordered any military operation in Odioma.
"It is common knowledge that the Armed Forces was operationally used by the President and Commander-in-Chief in 1999 and 2001 (these dates are liable to confirmation) in Odi and Zaki Biam, Bayelsa State and Benue State respectively.
"The military as an age long institution has an established procedure for handling allegations or reports of this nature. In the first place, on receiving a report such as this, a board of inquiry is convened by the appropriate superior authority to whom the report is made. Thereafter, a court martial may be ordered depending on the findings of the board of inquiry."
"In this case, neither was a report made nor an investigation conducted. How then would any right thinking person conclude that the JTF carried out military operations in Odioma. The answer is neither here nor there.
"The president did not order any military operation in Odioma, neither is it proper for the JTF to conduct a unilateral operation."
The community had in a petition to the house of representatives dated December 10, 2007 signed by King Cadbury Omieh (Igoni XXI) the Amanayabo of Odioma kingdom lamented that the unwarranted attack and destruction of his community has left them traumatized, depressed, deprived, alienated and displaced and pleaded with the lawmakers to compel the state and federal government to come to their aid.
Three years after the destruction of the ancient coastal town of Odioma in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State by men of Joint Task Force, the military high command has broken its silence on the matter saying the President did not authorize any military operation in the community neither is it proper for the JTF to conduct a unilateral operation.
The coastal settlement of Odioma, one of the oldest communities in the Nembe Kingdom was invaded and reduced to rubbles by a combined team of army and navy under the auspices of the Joint
Taskforce at the invitation of the former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha in the wake of the killing of 12 persons including four councilors allegedly on peace mission to Obioku along the Nembe creek by unknown gunmen.
The Defence Headquarters position is contained in a paper tendered before the House of Representatives Investigative Hearing into the Petition by Odioma community made available to Vanguard in Yenagoa.
Testifying before the House, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Andrew Azazi, who was represented by Rear Admiral M. Ajadi and Navy Captain A.K Owho-Chuku of the Defence Headquarters said there was no where in the military records or any where else to indicate that the Joint Task Force carried out the alleged operation in Odioma on February 19, 2005.
The position of Defence headquarters read in part: "To start with, there is nothing in our records or anywhere else to show that the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta carried out the alleged operation in Odioma on February 19, 2005.
In the usual military tradition, every incident deserving of attention, is usually reported to an appropriate superior authority.
But in the instant case, it was neither reported to any military authorities nor made public through newspapers, radios etc, considering the magnitude and scale of destruction in the alleged JTF operations in Odioma.
"It shall be noted that on February 19, 2005, neither did the President and Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) nor any other person exercising authority under his hands, ordered any military operation in Odioma.
"It is common knowledge that the Armed Forces was operationally used by the President and Commander-in-Chief in 1999 and 2001 (these dates are liable to confirmation) in Odi and Zaki Biam, Bayelsa State and Benue State respectively.
"The military as an age long institution has an established procedure for handling allegations or reports of this nature. In the first place, on receiving a report such as this, a board of inquiry is convened by the appropriate superior authority to whom the report is made. Thereafter, a court martial may be ordered depending on the findings of the board of inquiry."
"In this case, neither was a report made nor an investigation conducted. How then would any right thinking person conclude that the JTF carried out military operations in Odioma. The answer is neither here nor there.
"The president did not order any military operation in Odioma, neither is it proper for the JTF to conduct a unilateral operation."
The community had in a petition to the house of representatives dated December 10, 2007 signed by King Cadbury Omieh (Igoni XXI) the Amanayabo of Odioma kingdom lamented that the unwarranted attack and destruction of his community has left them traumatized, depressed, deprived, alienated and displaced and pleaded with the lawmakers to compel the state and federal government to come to their aid.
NIGERIA LOSES N5.3TRN TO N-DELTA MILITANCY
NIGERIA LOSES N5.3TRN TO N-DELTA MILITANCY
THE nation's economy lost $45.49 billion (about N5.3 trillion based on current exchange rate of N117) in the last three years - 2005, 2006 and 2007 - to shut-in crude oil production in the troubled Niger-Delta.
The shut-in was occasioned by the activities of militants. The amount lost is in excess of what is actually required to provide infrastructure in the area.
The lost revenue in the three-year period is almost the equivalent of the N5.137 trillion the Federal Government received as its share from the federation account between 1999 and 2005, representing 45.9 per cent of the total allocation from the federation account.
It is a little lower than the N6.047 trillion which the states, local governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) got during the six-year period. This amount represents 54 per cent of the allocation from June 1999 to December 2005.
The lost revenue in the three-year period is about half of the N11.185 trillion shared out from the federation account in the six-year period, to the three tiers of government.
Industry experts have also estimated that Nigeria loses between 70,000 and 300,000 barrels of oil per day to illegal bunkering, outside the shut-in crude, the equivalent output of a small oil-producing country.
In its annual report released in late August 2006, Shell Nigeria estimated illegal bunkering losses at 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day in 2005, down from 40,000 to 60,000 in 2004. In a December 2005 report, the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force calculated that a loss of just 70,000 barrels a day at a price of $60 a barrel "would generate over $1.5 billion per year - ample resources to fund arms trafficking, buy political influence, or both."
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) former Managing Director, Mr Basil Omiyi, estimated in November 2004 that 70,000 barrels a day were lost to bunkering.
The figure of 300,000 bpd cited by the Council on Foreign Relations' Independent Task Force No. 56 Report (January 2006) and subsequently by the Commander of US Naval Forces in Europe and Africa, Admiral Harry Ulrich, in a speech on May 30, 2006, available at Shell, did not say if its figures were country-wide totals or limited to its own facilities.
According to government sources, demands from militants, the cause of the huge revenue loses, has included the creation of additional states for Ijaw, amenities and jobs for rural communities, contracts and oil concessions for faction leaders and even calls for independence.
Spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the most vocal of the militant organizations to emerge in 2006, said his group's goal was to achieve resource control concession, or wreak "anarchy."
Attacks since December 2005, including a spate of kidnappings of oil workers, have sometimes forced oil production shutdowns of up to 800,000 barrels per day, threatening government's plans to nearly double production to four million barrels a day by 2010. Only some of those production losses have been offset by recent offshore developments.
Yet, there are important differences between oil bunkering and other illegal smuggling trades. As MEND's spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, pointed out in an e-mail in February 2006, drugs and diamonds are easily hidden in baggage or cargo containers whereas oil is transported in slow-moving barges and ships that are difficult to hide.
Whereas diamonds and drugs "offer greater marginal benefits to weaker combatants," oil requires a sophisticated security and transportation infrastructure to collect, transport and sell when sold in large quantities. Militant leaders interviewed by Crisis Group insisted that medium-and large-scale bunkering depended on at least the inattention or collusion and, more often, the active participation of Nigerian law enforcement authorities.
The complicity in oil bunkering, by necessity, goes far beyond Nigeria's borders. Border and port officials as well as purchasers in neighbouring states and distant destinations, are to a greater or lesser extent, involved, even if it is only willful ignorance.
The official statistics of the International Energy Agency (IEA) show at times implausibly sized imports into OECD countries from Nigeria's South- Eastern neighbour, Cameroun. Discrepancies in non-OECD imports are less well documented but of equal or greater concern.
During a boat trip through Bayelsa State in mid-2005, a Crisis Group researcher counted more than 20 vessels that his local travel companion identified as illegal bunkering barges.
In another case, the same researcher watched suspected smugglers pump crude from barges into awaiting tanker trucks in full view of residents and a small group of soldiers guarding Bomadi Bridge in Delta State.
In 2004, two Nigerian Navy Admirals were convicted of involvement in the disappearance of an oil bunkering tanker and its Russian crew from military custody. The officers were dismissed from service.
THE nation's economy lost $45.49 billion (about N5.3 trillion based on current exchange rate of N117) in the last three years - 2005, 2006 and 2007 - to shut-in crude oil production in the troubled Niger-Delta.
The shut-in was occasioned by the activities of militants. The amount lost is in excess of what is actually required to provide infrastructure in the area.
The lost revenue in the three-year period is almost the equivalent of the N5.137 trillion the Federal Government received as its share from the federation account between 1999 and 2005, representing 45.9 per cent of the total allocation from the federation account.
It is a little lower than the N6.047 trillion which the states, local governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) got during the six-year period. This amount represents 54 per cent of the allocation from June 1999 to December 2005.
The lost revenue in the three-year period is about half of the N11.185 trillion shared out from the federation account in the six-year period, to the three tiers of government.
Industry experts have also estimated that Nigeria loses between 70,000 and 300,000 barrels of oil per day to illegal bunkering, outside the shut-in crude, the equivalent output of a small oil-producing country.
In its annual report released in late August 2006, Shell Nigeria estimated illegal bunkering losses at 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day in 2005, down from 40,000 to 60,000 in 2004. In a December 2005 report, the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force calculated that a loss of just 70,000 barrels a day at a price of $60 a barrel "would generate over $1.5 billion per year - ample resources to fund arms trafficking, buy political influence, or both."
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) former Managing Director, Mr Basil Omiyi, estimated in November 2004 that 70,000 barrels a day were lost to bunkering.
The figure of 300,000 bpd cited by the Council on Foreign Relations' Independent Task Force No. 56 Report (January 2006) and subsequently by the Commander of US Naval Forces in Europe and Africa, Admiral Harry Ulrich, in a speech on May 30, 2006, available at Shell, did not say if its figures were country-wide totals or limited to its own facilities.
According to government sources, demands from militants, the cause of the huge revenue loses, has included the creation of additional states for Ijaw, amenities and jobs for rural communities, contracts and oil concessions for faction leaders and even calls for independence.
Spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the most vocal of the militant organizations to emerge in 2006, said his group's goal was to achieve resource control concession, or wreak "anarchy."
Attacks since December 2005, including a spate of kidnappings of oil workers, have sometimes forced oil production shutdowns of up to 800,000 barrels per day, threatening government's plans to nearly double production to four million barrels a day by 2010. Only some of those production losses have been offset by recent offshore developments.
Yet, there are important differences between oil bunkering and other illegal smuggling trades. As MEND's spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, pointed out in an e-mail in February 2006, drugs and diamonds are easily hidden in baggage or cargo containers whereas oil is transported in slow-moving barges and ships that are difficult to hide.
Whereas diamonds and drugs "offer greater marginal benefits to weaker combatants," oil requires a sophisticated security and transportation infrastructure to collect, transport and sell when sold in large quantities. Militant leaders interviewed by Crisis Group insisted that medium-and large-scale bunkering depended on at least the inattention or collusion and, more often, the active participation of Nigerian law enforcement authorities.
The complicity in oil bunkering, by necessity, goes far beyond Nigeria's borders. Border and port officials as well as purchasers in neighbouring states and distant destinations, are to a greater or lesser extent, involved, even if it is only willful ignorance.
The official statistics of the International Energy Agency (IEA) show at times implausibly sized imports into OECD countries from Nigeria's South- Eastern neighbour, Cameroun. Discrepancies in non-OECD imports are less well documented but of equal or greater concern.
During a boat trip through Bayelsa State in mid-2005, a Crisis Group researcher counted more than 20 vessels that his local travel companion identified as illegal bunkering barges.
In another case, the same researcher watched suspected smugglers pump crude from barges into awaiting tanker trucks in full view of residents and a small group of soldiers guarding Bomadi Bridge in Delta State.
In 2004, two Nigerian Navy Admirals were convicted of involvement in the disappearance of an oil bunkering tanker and its Russian crew from military custody. The officers were dismissed from service.
IJAWS WANT MORE STATES
IJAWS WANT MORE STATES
YENAGOA, Nigeria – The president of the Ijaw National Congress, Chief Kimse Okoko has called for the creation of two additional Ijaw states within the Nigerian federation.
"We want two additional states to give us adequate representation in the country," Kimse Okoko, president of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), told the press in an interview.
Since Ijaws, who number some 12 million, were the source of the country's oil wealth they should have more states, argued Okoko, whose group includes all the Ijaw organisations in the Delta region.
"We started the struggle in 1991 with calls for three core Ijaw states but we got only Bayelsa. We urge the National Assembly to enact a law to create two more states for us," he said.
The group would not continue to accept a situation where "the Ijaws are balkanised in some states in the country."
The number of states in the Nigerian federation is constantly rising. From 1967 to 1976, the country had 12 states. Thirty years later, it has 36.
Apart from Bayelsa, where they are dominant, Ijaws are also found in the other eight oil-producing states.
A swathe of swamps, creeks and rivers the size of Scotland, the Niger Delta provides the bulk of Nigeria's oil but most of its inhabitants get by on less than one dollar a day.
"In the villages, what the people see is oil, but we are as poor as ever. We produce what the nation uses to develop, but we continue to suffer neglect and deprivation. We are appealing to the federal government to allow us to use our resources for our development," he said, berating the government President Umaru Yar'Adua for not doing enough for the region.
But Okoko said the creation of more states alone would not calm the current agitation in the Delta that has reduced Nigeria's daily crude exports by about one quarter since 2006.
"State creation is an interim measure. It will not deter our clamour for total control of our God-given oil resources."
Making the appeal during the Ijaws' national day in Bayelsa's capital Yenagoa,on Saturday, Okoko said Nigeria’s Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, who himself originates from Bayelsa, should use his position to promote the idea of creating new Ijaw states.
And he said his group supports militant activities in the region, which has seen a wave of kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities.
"We support and will continue to collaborate with a just and genuine struggle that will facilitate our self-determination and regional autonomy efforts," Okoko said
YENAGOA, Nigeria – The president of the Ijaw National Congress, Chief Kimse Okoko has called for the creation of two additional Ijaw states within the Nigerian federation.
"We want two additional states to give us adequate representation in the country," Kimse Okoko, president of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), told the press in an interview.
Since Ijaws, who number some 12 million, were the source of the country's oil wealth they should have more states, argued Okoko, whose group includes all the Ijaw organisations in the Delta region.
"We started the struggle in 1991 with calls for three core Ijaw states but we got only Bayelsa. We urge the National Assembly to enact a law to create two more states for us," he said.
The group would not continue to accept a situation where "the Ijaws are balkanised in some states in the country."
The number of states in the Nigerian federation is constantly rising. From 1967 to 1976, the country had 12 states. Thirty years later, it has 36.
Apart from Bayelsa, where they are dominant, Ijaws are also found in the other eight oil-producing states.
A swathe of swamps, creeks and rivers the size of Scotland, the Niger Delta provides the bulk of Nigeria's oil but most of its inhabitants get by on less than one dollar a day.
"In the villages, what the people see is oil, but we are as poor as ever. We produce what the nation uses to develop, but we continue to suffer neglect and deprivation. We are appealing to the federal government to allow us to use our resources for our development," he said, berating the government President Umaru Yar'Adua for not doing enough for the region.
But Okoko said the creation of more states alone would not calm the current agitation in the Delta that has reduced Nigeria's daily crude exports by about one quarter since 2006.
"State creation is an interim measure. It will not deter our clamour for total control of our God-given oil resources."
Making the appeal during the Ijaws' national day in Bayelsa's capital Yenagoa,on Saturday, Okoko said Nigeria’s Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, who himself originates from Bayelsa, should use his position to promote the idea of creating new Ijaw states.
And he said his group supports militant activities in the region, which has seen a wave of kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities.
"We support and will continue to collaborate with a just and genuine struggle that will facilitate our self-determination and regional autonomy efforts," Okoko said
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