Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has promised that the Federal Government will take urgent measures to include Abia in the amnesty programme designed for for oil-producing areas.
Osinbajo made the promise on
Friday in Umuahia during a town hall meeting with representatives of
different groups from the oil-producing commumites in the state,
comprising traditional rulers, women and youth groups.
He
said that the federal government and the Ministry of Niger Delta
Affairs would work hand-in-hand with the state government to ensure that
beneficiaries of the amnesty programme hailed from Asa, the
oil-producing area of Ukwa West Local Government Area of the state.
Osinbajo was reacting to the protest by the people of the area at the meeting that the state was not included in the programme.
The
people publicly disowned the purported list of 237 indigenes from the
oil-producing communities alleged to have benefited from the programme.
The
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, the Special
Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the
Presidential Amnesty Programme, said at the forum that the record
available to him showed that 237 people of the area had so far benefited
from the programme.
The vice president,
however, expressed concern over the alleged discrepancy in the list and
the agitation that Abia was excluded from the programme.
“It is clear from what happened here that somebody somewhere is doing something funny,” Osinbajo said.
He
therefore assured the people that there would be closer rapport between
the federal and Abia governments to ensure that the state benefited
from the programme.
Osinbajo also assured
the people that government would also include Asa in the cleanup
exercise as was being done in other Niger Delta regions in the country.
He
further said that oil-producing communities in the country, including
Asa, would also benefit from the modular refineries being planned by the
federal government to integrate local refineries.
He
said that the federal government had ordered contractors handling road
projects in different parts of the country to return to site within 30
days or face prosecution.
He restated
government’s commitment toward job creation and technical training for
the nation’s youth, saying that no fewer than 2,000 Abia youths were
registered in the N-Power programme.
On
the agitation for the establishment of a federal university in the
oil-rich area of the state, the vice president said that it could only
be achieved through collaboration between the federal and state
governments along with the Nigeria Universities Commission.
He
assured that the federal government would soon announce the names of
the representatives of Abia and Ondo states in the boards of the Niger
Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
He
thanked the youths of the area for their peaceful disposition and also
commended the government and traditional rulers for restraining them
from militancy and violent agitations.
He said that federal government was seriously committed to developing the Niger Delta region with the oil resources.
He
therefore urged the people to join hands with the government to ensure
that oil was utilised to better the lot of the people of the region now
that the resources were available.
Osinbajo said that with the increasing decline in the demand for oil in the international market, “we must make haste and move quickly to use the oil to transform the nation”.
He
said that China, India and America, which were highest importers of oil
from Nigeria no longer had need for oil since they had found
alternative sources of fuel.
The Minister
of Trade and Investment, Dr Okey Enelama, said that Aba would benefit
from the industrial parks and free trade zones being packaged by the
federal government.
The Minister of Niger
Delta Affairs, Mr Usani Uguru, and Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr
Ibe Kachukwu, in their separate speeches underscored the various federal
government initiatives to alleviate the plight of the oil-producing
communities in Nigeria.
They said that
the present administration was determined to redress the problem of
environmental pollution and degradation in the Niger Delta region caused
by years of neglect.
On his part, Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu said that “no single Abia indigene has benefited from the amnesty programme”.
Ikpeazu
said that he was happy with the drama that played out at the hall and
called for an inquiry on the purported list of 237 beneficiaries from
the state as presented by Boroh.
He also
requested that the oil companies operating in Ukwa West should be made
to respect the rules and laws on local content in order to give the
oil-bearing communities a sense of belonging.
Representatives of the various groups in their separate speeches called for federal government’s presence in the area.
The
speakers included former Senate President, Sen. Adolfus Wabara, and
National Assembly members from Abia South Senatorial District, including
Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe and Rep. Uzoma Abonta.
Others were Eze Young Ogbonna, Mr Chima Nwogu, Chief Don Ubani and a former Abia representative in the NDDC board.
They also called on the federal government to address the infrastructure needs of the area.
They
urged the oil companies to improve on their scholarship scheme as well
as job opportunities for youths of the area to check restiveness.
Dignitaries
at the meeting included the wife of Nigeria’s former Head of State, Mrs
Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi, pioneer NDDC Chairman, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu,
and a founding father of Abia, Dr Anagha Ezikpe.
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