We want restructuring not secession – Niger Delta youth leaders
Niger Delta youth leaders have joined the call for a restructuring of Nigeria, stating that the Federal Government must make critical decisions before 2019.
They made the demand during a meeting convened by Moses Siasia, President of the Nigeria Young Professionals Association and former Bayelsa State governorship aspirant.
They also insisted that the Niger Delta must be able to control its own resources.
“We are the generation that laid the golden egg. But we have nothing to show for it and they say we should not call for restructuring. Niger Delta people must be in charge of their own destinies. I am the president of Nigeria Young Professionals Association, I believe in the unity of the country, but I don’t believe in division. The money they share every month in Abuja is it from cocoa or groundnut or mining? Go to the north you will not find any single Niger Delta person mining in the north, it can’t happen.” Siasia stated.
Another Niger Delta activist, Ankio Briggs said that several issues which had lingered for so long needed to be addressed.
Briggs said: “If you have traversed the polluted areas in the Niger Delta like I have done, and if any one comes to tell you that they can clean up the area, they are telling you lies. The devastation in the Niger Delta cannot be redeemed, let’s not deceive ourselves. So if you are making any decision here today, you must have that in mind.”
Siasia stated that the youth have come up with clear deliberations that they stand for Nigeria’s restructuring.
He, however, stressed that what restructuring entails was true federalism and that the Niger Delta people should be able to control 100 per cent of their resources while paying taxes to the government.
“We also have called on the Federal Government to visit the resolutions of the 2014 Confab report and we want the restructuring done before 2019 elections,” Siasia said.
