FG should begin dialogue ― Ijaw youth

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has commended Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on his painstaking fact-finding tour of communities in Niger Delta States.

This is just as the pressure group has called on the Federal Government to cap the fact-finding mission to the region with a dialogue with the people on issues like resource control.

Newly elected president of the group, Eric Omare, lauded the acting president during a courtesy visit to the press centre of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Warri Correspondents Chapel on Wednesday.

He said AP’s visits were responsible for the relative peace being enjoyed in the region after the cessation of hostilities by militants.

The Ijaw youth group also commended Osinbajo for directing multinational oil companies to relocate their headquarters from Lagos or Abuja to the region.

This, he noted, was in line with one of the requests of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) on November 1, 2016, adding that the idea was to boost the local economy of the region.

Omare, however, disclosed that the directive shouldn’t be a mere one, saying there should be a time frame the directive should be carried out.

“That’s the only way the directive will make a sense or be of any use to the people of the region.

We youths are calling on Osinbajo to give the minister of petroleum for state a time frame within which to compel multinational companies to relocate to the region,” he pleaded.

Meanwhile, IYC has called on the Federal Government to urgently commence the proposed dialogue with people of the Niger Delta, saying the whole essence of the visits is to prepare the ground for discussion.

Omare, who was accompanied to the NUJ press centre by national spokesperson of the group, Henry Oyala and others, insisted that the tour should be climaxed with the setting up of a Federal Government Negotiating team to begin dialogue with members of the E. K Clark-led PANDEF.

“Our view is that why the tour should be used to build confidence, that should be capped up with a dialogue between the Niger Delta people and the FG to address the key question of resource ownership.

No amount of tour or palliative measures will be enough to address the Niger Delta problems until the issues of resources control is resolved.

That’s the issue that has been fueling crises in the region.

Osinbajo should cap up the visits with the setting up a Federal Government Negotiating team with PANDEF to negotiate the question of resource ownership to achieve permanent peace in the Niger Delta region,” Omare stated.