Oscarline Onwuemenyi
10 April 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja – Agitators under the aegis of 21st Century Youth of Niger Delta have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to use the oil funds earmarked for amnesty of ex-militants to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in the North of the country.
Rather, the group said, the funds from oil proceeds should be used on the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and other appropriate federal agencies to save the coastal communities of Niger Delta threatened by coastal erosion from extinction.
The agitators in a statement by their spokesperson, W O I Izon-Ebi, and obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, noted that, “Recently, experts, including the Programme Director of the African Peace Building Network of Social Science and Research Council, New York, Dr. Cyril Obi, raised the alarm that coastal communities in Nigeria may soon experience violent conflict due to the rise in ocean level that could lead to flooding.
“We have observed with dismay that the various federal agencies such as the Ministry of Niger Delta, NDDC and the NDBDA, have all failed in this regard because they have no single project in almost all the coastal communities.
“We, therefore, call on President Buhari to channel the funds that had been set aside to grant Boko Haram amnesty to adequately fund these ministries to avert these predictions and save the lives of the inhabitants of these communities.”
The group added that, “The bulk of the funds that sustain this nation come from the deep sea of these communities and they suffer most of the negative consequences of oil exploitation by multinationals, which conduct their businesses with impunity.”
