Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, IYC, has threatened to paralyse oil production over the decision of the National Conference Committee on Devolution of Power and Resource Control to retain the 13 percent derivation for oil producing states instead of the 100 percent demanded by the host communities.
In a statement issued yesterday by the group’s spokesperson, Eric Omare, IYC described the decision as retrogressive, anti- federalism and unacceptable to the Niger Delta people.
It stated that the committee’s decision to maintain the status quo and refusal to address the crucial issue of resource control betrayed the expectation of Nigerians and Niger Deltans that hoped 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.”
Omare said: “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 Nigerian 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 us and we may be forced to take drastic actions.”
The group added that “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.”
It, therefore, called 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.
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