2015: CONTEST OR DON’T RETURN HOME, IJAW YOUTHS TELL JONATHAN The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), through its president, Comrade Udengs Eradiri, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential election or prepare not to return to the Niger Delta. Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony of NIMASA Shipyard and Dockyard and the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, at Okporoza, in Gbaramatu kingdom of Delta State, on Saturday, Eradiri commended President Jonathan for the initiation of Almajiri schools in the North; the convocation of the ongoing National Conference; improved road and power infrastructure, among others. The ceremony coincided with the annual festival of Amasekume of the people of the kingdom, but the president did not allow cutural troupes to stage their performances based on the present mood of the nation. Meanwhile, the president has admitted that influential people in the country are those involved in illegal oil bunkering, maintaining that it has been difficult to curb the menace. Nigeria reportedly loses about $6 billion to oil theft annually. Addressing a mamoth crowd gathered at Okporoza, President Jonathan, who appealed to illegal oil bunkerers to halt the economic sabotage, admonished foot soldiers being used to desist from pollutting the creeks in the name of oil refining and urged them to consider the future of unborn generations whose existence, he said, was being gradually jeopardised. “There are big people involved in illegal oil bunkering. From the day I came in, even from when I was the deputy governor in Bayelsa State, I have been totally committed to reducing the menace. But it’s difficult. We are trying to use different methods now,” he added. Source: Tribune
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 05:36:10 +0000