The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has accused the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, of not doing enough to protect the interest of the Niger Delta region in the N621.2bn road projects to be undertaken across the country by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The youths reminded Sylva that the NNPC owed its existence to the Niger Delta region, saying the corporation must pay adequate attention to “a region it has almost rendered uninhabitable because doing so is, to say the least, provocative and a recipe for another violent conflict.”
The IYC, in a statement on Wednesday by its president, Peter Timothy Igbifa, said the youths would not rest until Sylva took expected steps to remedy the injustice done to the region in the distribution of the 21 road projects.
The group argued that there were roads in Bayelsa, Rivers, Ondo, Edo and other states of the Niger Delta that should have been included in the project list.
The statement said in part, “The inequality, injustice and inequity that characterised this project distribution gives eloquent credence to allegations that Sylva and other ministers from our region do not have the interest of the Niger Delta at heart.
“We consider the action of Sylva as a dereliction of duty, betrayal of trust and display of irresponsibility unbecoming of a minister in his capacity.
“We will continue to feel this way until he races down to the region to prove us wrong.
“We are hereby asking Sylva to return to the region immediately and explain to us in a town hall meeting why he slumbered when others shared our commonwealth.
“We also use the opportunity to call on NNPC to adjust the project list in the interest of peace, justice and equity.”
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