Ijaw youths on Thursday warned that non-inclusion of indigenes of the Niger Delta region on the list of licenses approved for modular refineries by the Federal Government is an invitation to free-for-all illegal refining activities and renewed unrest in the delta.
Speaking under the auspices of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, the youths expressed disappointment in the government’s decision to exclude indigenes of the region in the 56 licenses allegedly approved by the Federal Government for the setting up of modular refineries in the Niger Delta region as a step towards ending the era of illegal refining activities and youth agitation in the region.
It would be recalled that the member representing Omoku constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Christian Ahiakwo on Monday revealed that “56 companies have been given licenses to operate modular refineries in the Niger Delta region but none of the companies is owned by indigenes of the region”.
A statement signed by the spokesman of the IYC Daniel Dasimaka lamented that the Federal Government’s decision not to grant licenses to anyone from the Niger Delta has the potential of derailing the relative calm in the region that has long suffered marginalization. The statement reads in part: “It is quite sad and appalling that despite being the ones currently operating local refineries that have been tagged illegal by the Federal Government, Niger Deltans have been denied any opportunity to operate under a legal framework. The exclusion of Niger Delta and Ijaw people in the list of 56 approved modular refineries is reminiscent of the history and politics of state creation in Nigeria. You would recall that Ijaws through Harold Dappa-Biriye were among the first Nigerians to clamour for state creation in the pre-independence era.
However, when states were created, we were given only one state up to 1996, Rivers State, while those who repeatedly resisted the idea got many. Today the same scenario is playing out in the modular refinery issue. Our people have been operating local refineries and advocating for their legalization for years, only for other people to hijack the process when it’s time for implementation. In our view, the action of the Federal government is an invitation to free-for-all illegal refining in the Niger Delta and its attendant negative environmental impacts”.
The body called on the acting president Professor Yemi Osinbajo to take urgent sincere steps to remedy this situation bearing in mind that at the heart of militancy in the region are feelings of marginalization and exclusion of the people of the region in the oil and gas business taking place in their homeland.
“Once again we want to give the acting president the benefit of the doubt in this matter. It is our hope that he would redress this grave injustice in the making before things get out of hand. The first licenses ever to be given to anybody must be licences given to our people who are currently engaged in local refining. It is not only symbolic but also just and fair, and only proper, to do so. Things should be done properly in this country. The genuine aspirations of our people in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy must be factored in as a matter of priority. Why does Nigeria always fail this simple test of sincerity?” it adds.
