Ijaw youths bemoan rustic pipes as cause of oil spillage in Niger Delta

A lawyer and frontline leader of Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide,  Mr Tare Porri, has raised the alarm that the majority of the oil pipelines criss-crossing the Niger Delta have expired.

He said the development, which had yet to be addressed by the relevant authorities, was responsible for many pipeline failures and explosions in the region.

Porri, the Deputy Speaker, IYC Parliament, gave the scary revelation on Monday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital while expressing his interest to run for the position of IYC National Legal Adviser in the coming council election.

Porri said, “If you look at the Niger Delta region, all the pipelines criss-crossing the region have expired. What does that mean? It means that about 90 per cent of pipeline failures in the region are caused by these expired pipes.

“So, when I come on board as IYC National Legal Adviser, we are going to engage the multinational oil companies operating in the region to quickly commence the process of changing all the expired pipelines in the region.”

The IYC leader, who lamented the alleged extra-judicial killings going on in the region, urged the relevant security agencies to be professional in the discharge of their duties  and respect the sanctity of human life.

Porri added, “The mandate of my legal team is to address all the legal issues that are confronting the people across the zones and chapters.

I have also stated that the extrajudicial killings that are currently going on in the Niger Delta are alarming.

“Therefore,  if I am given the opportunity to be the NLA, we are going to engage the Inspector-General of Police, the Operation Delta Safe and other security agencies operating in the region to let them know

that Ijaw people are not criminals and that they should properly investigate before shooting at our people.

“A lot of things have happened in Ijaw land. A 17-year-old boy from Southern Ijaw was murdered in cold blood. We frowned at it, we mobilised Ijaw people and called for justice.  And today, because of our involvement, the people that carried out the dastardly act are facing prosecution for murder.”

He mentioned that many Ijaw youths were incarcerated in various prisons for no justifiable reasons, saying that when given the mandate, his team would start a process for the enforcement of the fundamental human rights of all Ijaws currently facing different charges without proper trial.