It’s Not The Fault Of Buhari That N’Delta Haven’t Gotten Resource Control – Keyamo

Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has said that it is not the fault of President Muhammadu Buhari that Niger Delta have not gotten resource control that it has been agitating for over the years.

BIGPENNGR.COM reports Kayamo made the assertion during the South-south stakeholders meeting with President Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari and other FG high-profile delegation on Tuesday.

The meeting x-rayed issues of fiscal federalism, restructuring, power devolution and resource control against the backdrop of recent sales of gold by the Zamfara State Government to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

At the event held at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the leaders, governors and other stakeholders in the region made 7-points demands on the federal government.

Chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum and Governor of Delta, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, who presented the region’s demand, said that the nation was not at peace because the country had failed to practice true federalism.

He said; “For us in the South-South, the #ENDSARS protest is a metaphor of almost all that is wrong with us, our refusal to properly understand issues, and imbibe and entrench the virtues of justice, fairness and equity.

“The previous system of true federalism was jettisoned and it created a powerful center controlling and distributing all the resources unevenly.

“There was now a strong desire to restructure the country in order to guarantee peace, security, stability and progress of the nation.

“The region demands true federalism and devolution of powers to the states, including creating and managing their own police and security architecture, true fiscal federalism guided by the principle of derivation, revenue sharing and control of resources by each state,” he said.

He decried the deliberate lack of understanding, empathy and uncompromising attitudes of some Nigerians, who refused to understand the peculiar challenges of the South-South region, especially the degradation of the environment and the pollution of our waters.

But in his remarks Keyamo said that the Niger Delta region have failed over the years to drive aggressively the resource control agitation to become part of the Nigeria constitution, saying that all the demands raised were germane.

“Nobody should fall for the narrative that it is President Muhammadu Buhari that caused the problem why they have not amended the constitution”, he said, adding it was time the Niger Delta in one voice frontally ensure that the constitutional review captures areas that are agitating the people.

He urged the leaders and stakeholders to take all the issues raised before the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege-led Constitutional Review Committee of the senate and push the demands aggressively from there.

According to him, as part of efforts by the Buhari’s administration to develop the region, “The Federal Executive Council has approved the Coastal Rail line from Lagos to Calabar. The loan for the coastal Rail line from Lagos to Calabar is actually being processed now.

“The other Rail line from Bonny to Maiduguri which is the Eastern flank has also been approved. That rail line begins from Bonny to Owerri, Makurdi and all the way to Maiduguri and the loans are being processed right now with the Chinese.

“Congratulations to Governor Okowa because the rails incidentally will begin from Warri and it will either go east west or west west but it will certainly begin from Warri.

“As for the Ports, Governor Okowa mentioned the issue of the deep sea port and as we speak here, I can show you a message from the MD of RCCI, the contract has been awarded already for the Warri port. It is the deep sea port that they want to establish in Warri.

“For you to have a deep seaport you need at least 14 meters deep of water but the old Warri Port is about 8 meters deep and it will cost about $100 million dollars to dregde.

“So what we want to do is that we have been mandated to work with traditional rulers like Olu of Warri and others to try and get a location that is at least close to 14 meters deep and that is where I will beg my brother the Hon Minister of Petroleum, because the channel to go in is also barricaded by the NNPC pipelines and some of them are obsolete so we are thinking of sinking or relocating the pipes for the ships to come in because the pipes are already under the water.

“We are all part of the same region, I’m Urhobo like most of you here and when they tell you that the Federal Government should not take loan, tell them that they are taking loans to build railways in other parts of the country, so let us take loan to build our own too so don’t oppose it, we should build our own too with the Chinese loan as well.

“My elder brother Professor G. G. Darah, let me add to your demands because being here today, also part of you too, making demands from the Federal Government.

“They are working on it now and in the next few weeks the Warri Airport will become functional again.

“So on a last note, I want to say that most of the demands if not all the demands of Governor Okowa as a child of the region who was born and bred in the region, I also support those demands because it is only a bastard who is not born of a father from the Niger Delta that will not support those demands.

“It is not because we are here today. We will come back home tomorrow and any Niger Delta son that does not support resource control and fiscal federalism is a bastard of the region.

“So we support it. But I must caution that it must be a collective effort. Do not think that it is the fault from this government. It has always been there. Our son was President. A southerner was President as a Yoruba man.

“Luckily for us, the Deputy Senate President is the Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee. Let us take our demands there, let us go and fight our case there.

“Nobody should fall for the narrative that it is President Muhammadu Buhari that caused the problem why they have not amended the constitution.

“Let us take all our demands there and let us go and fight it there”.