Edith CHUKU
As Nigeria marks her 62nd years of independence, stakeholders in the oil rich Niger Delta have expressed worries over the safety and future of the people of the region.
They believe that there is nothing to celebrate, even as they continue to reiterate their concern over the despoliation of the environment by oil exploration activities, among others.
Kennedy Tonjo-West, National President of the Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta MOSIEND spoke with TNN in an exclusive interview where he bored his mind on the state of affairs in the country.
According to Tonjo-West, “as we mark 62 years of independence, as MOSIEND, there is nothing to celebrate, we are extremely worried about the safety and future of the Niger Deltans, the despoliation of our environment by oil exploration activities, the poor responses to gas flaring by government and multi-national companies, the continued review of policies and frame work in the oil and gas industry as well as political equation, to keep the Niger Delta people in a small and disadvantaged position in a country they contribute 80 per cent to its sustenance just to keep us impoverished.
“Niger Delta has always been on the receiving side; we have not been treated fairly, in a country where we produce 70, 80 per cent of the revenue and yet paltry amount of money is appropriated to us.
“Development is a total absence as far as Niger Deltans are concerned. Take a look at the Eleme-Ogoni Road, take a look at the Warri-Sapele Road, take a look at the other communities that contribute immensely within the Niger Delta, to the economic growth of this country, there is poor response to meeting the plights of the Niger Delta, in a country where we are supposed to have equity participation.”
Stressing on their total disapproval of the federal system of government which gives total power to the center, the leader of the pan Niger Delta group made a distress call to ethnic nationalities and states in the Niger Delta.
He urged them to “close rank and begin to press for the restructuring and self-determination, else we should perpetually leave our children in slavery, there is nothing coming into Niger Delta, everything from the Niger Delta is a national cake, oil and gas is a national cake, when mineral resources like gold and etcetera is discovered in the other parts of the country, it becomes a regional exclusive right to determine what to give to the center, when it is a Niger Delta, it is a Nigerian sharing formular, that is unacceptable, that should not be condoled by any well-meaning Nigeria.
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“A country where we practice a fake constitution, constitution frosted on the people, hook, line and sinker, without questioning the rational, without testing that constitution internationally, it’s unacceptable.”
