OLEH—EX-MILITANT leaders under the aegis of Urhobo
Gbagbako, yesterday, urged the Federal Government to
overhaul and restructure the Niger Delta Development
Commission, NDDC, to pave way for “genuine host
communities” to be physically captured in the interventionist
agency’s development programmes.
They also called for the restructuring of the amnesty
programme to accommodate those who surrendered arms
and were issued with Joint Task Force, JTF, certificates but
are yet to be documented for payment and training.
The ex-militants, in a statement by their spokesman, Priest
Omodjuvwu, vowed to “Fight the NDDC case to a logical
conclusion as those appointed into the board have not given
priority to the host communities.”
Noting that there had been talks since the inception of
President Mumammadu Buhari’s administration, about the
scrapping of the amnesty programme and the oil pipeline
surveillance contract job, they decried that “There has not
been any mention of oil blocs being allocated to a few highly
placed individuals outside the Niger Delta region nor plans by
the Federal Government to ameliorate the continuous
despoliation of the Niger Delta environment with unending
exploration and exploitation of our crude oil.
“No one has talked about relocating the head offices of oil
producing companies from Lagos and Abuja to the Niger
Delta region. Our president must be reminded that the Niger
Delta amnesty programme was not initiated by the late
President Umaru Yar’Adua administration because of his love
for the Niger Delta but to guarantee continued oi production.”
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