Itsekiri Group to shutdown crude oil Installations, seal NDDC Office, until FG appoints substantive Board for NDDC

The Itsekiri Liberation Group, ILG, has threatened to shutdown all crude oil installations within their territory in Delta and Edo States and seal Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC office in Delta State, until the Federal Government appoints and inaugurates a substantive board for NDDC, describing the forensic audit reportedly being conducted by the Ministry of Nigeria Delta Affairs as a charade to deny Itsekiri Nation and other tribes in the Niger Delta the needed development.

In a statement made available to Fresh Angle International this morning, Saturday May 29, ILG explained the the shutdown threat was taken: "After accessing the recent happenings in the NDDC and the Niger Delta, the appointment of Interim Management Board and later Sole Administrator by the Federal Government of Nigeria, which negates the law that established the NDDC in the year 2000 and the attendant effects on the Niger Delta people (especially the Itsekiri people that produce over 22 percent of crude oil in Nigeria".

The statement added: "Over the years, we have noticed with utmost dismay that the Federal Government has been taking the peaceful and law abiding disposition of the Itsekiri people for granted. In the recent past, the Federal Government completely neglect the Itsekiri people in the scheme of things in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). 

"We will no longer tolerate the Federal Government and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs' flimsy excuse of conducting Forensic Audit, because it is clear that the forensic audit is a charade and a deliberate attempt to stay glued to power and further impoverish our people in oil and gas producing communities in the Niger Delta".

The ILG statement, which was signed by Comrades Mone Oris and Ajofortan Omagbemi, chairman and secretary, respectively, emphasised: "We will not condone any deliberate act to control the resources in our land, without following laid down laws backing the establishment of NDDC. Consequently, we hereby give full support to the leadership of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC on the current protest as we mobilize all our members and the Itsekiri Nation to seal off NDDC office and other critical crude oil facilities within Itsekiri land in Delta and Edo States, until the Federal Government of Nigeria meet with the following demands:

" 1. The Federal  Government should immediately sack the Sole Administrator managing the affairs of the NDDC, because it is skewed to favour a cabal as against the general interests and representation of the various states that ought to constitute the Board. 

" 2. The Federal Government should with immediate effect appoint, confirm and Inaugurate  a substantive Board for the NDDC within 14 days. 

"3. The Federal Government should Include all projects in Itsekiri area such as Koko -Ogheye Road, Omadino-Excravos (Ugborodo), Jakpa to Ogheye to Ugbege Road , Rural Electrification project from Koko to Benin River in Warri North, Koko shoreline protection etc in the NDDC budget and all the projects should be properly funded as well as executed in line with global engineering standards. We will vehemently resist abandoned projects. 

"4 . The Federal Government should immediately Include Itsekiris in the recently concluded recruitment of Over 300 staff in NDDC. Any exclusion of our people in the recruitment of staff in NDDC will be resisted, because by virtue of our production quantum of oil and gas, we are major stakeholders in the region and Nigeria at large. 

"5 . Itsekiri sons and daughters must be included in NDDC skill acquisition and empowerment programmes. We were shocked to see NDDC  engage over 200 indigenous people of the Niger Delta, without a single Itsekiri man or woman, this is a clear example of the gross neglect of Itsekiri Nation in the scheme of things. 

"6. Itsekiri sons and daughters, should be considered for the office MD and other executive positions in the NDDC, because over the years (20 years) that the Commission was created, Itsekiri Nation which produces 22.8 % of the country's crude oil and gas, has not be considered for either the MD or executive position. We won't take it anymore, we call on all our members and Itsekiri Nation to resist this act of wickedness done by the federal government."

"We will not be peaceful anymore, because it appears our peaceful disposition is being taken for granted. If these demands are not met, we shall decimate all crude oil and gas installations in our areas and seal up the NDDC Office in Warri, to ensure the Nation's economy is completely grounded till our demands are met", Itsekiri Liberation Group, warned.

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