ACE activist, Annko Briggs, has warned militants in the Niger Delta against blowing up of oil and gas pipelines, saying “if you’re blowing up pipelines, they (FG) don’t care you are blowing pipelines because they are able to access the oil and gas.”
This is just as Briggs called on the United Nations, with the support of all ethnic groupings in Nigeria, to agitate and lend support for the demand for a referendum to end secession agitations and structural imbalance in the country.
The female activist averred that after the National Assembly killed the devolution of powers bill, what was next was to call for a referendum on whether the country should remain as one or not.
Briggs made the calls at a lecture delivered at the Niger Delta Youth Peace Dialogue Warri 2017 held at the PTI Conference Hall in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
The Niger Delta activist noted that the National Assembly had drawn the battle line by snubbing the call for restructuring by majority of Nigerians.
She said since the National Assembly had thrown away the call, “the only thing remaining right now for Nigeria and all other ethnic groups is to call for a referendum.
“We need to have a referendum in Nigeria. Let the people decide. Let the ethnic nationalities decide. Let United Nations have a referendum on Nigeria.”
She denounced the call for the Federal Government to inaugurate a dialogue team on the Niger Delta, saying the FG was not ready to discuss with the people of the Niger Delta but only interested in exploiting the region of its oil and gas to develop other regions.
She reiterated that the main concerns of the Niger Delta region was total resource control followed by monthly payment of royalties to the Federal Government.
Briggs, who is from Rivers State, warned NDA against blowing up of oil and gas pipelines, saying “if you’re blowing up pipelines, they don’t care you are blowing pipelines because they are able to access the oil and gas.”
Meanwhile, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, who delivered a paper on the theme: “Peace Dialogue, A tool for Niger Delta Sustainable Development,” reechoed dialogue as necessary, but not a precondition for sustainable development.
According to Prof. Okaba, until there is a radical change in the mindset of people of the Niger Delta, peace, progress and development might continue to elude the region.