Joblessness: ‘Some ex-militants trained abroad are complaining’

Posted by admin Headlines, Niger Delta Sunday, September 2nd, 2012

The Chairman, Ijaw Youth Council in the Western Region, Preye Okaba, speaks with CHUX OHAI about issues affecting national security and the Niger Delta

How do you react to the recent purported talks between the Federal Government and Boko Haram?

I don’t see anything bad in it. Considering the tension and insecurity generated by persistent bombings and killings in the North, I think it is necessary for the Federal Government to dialogue with Boko Haram. It is important to find out why they are killing innocent Nigerians and bombing churches and police stations. The youths of Niger Delta believe that dialogue with Boko Haram is the panacea to the current insecurity in the country.

Would you welcome any proposal to compensate members the sect?

Here in the Niger Delta we believe that Boko Haram’s agenda is not clear. Now they have brought in issues that have made it very difficult for the average Nigerian to understand what they really want. Since President Goodluck Jonathan has decided to sit down and dialogue with them, he should be sensitive enough to know what exactly they want. If all they want to talk about is compensation, Nigerians will want to know why. The carnage caused by the sect is enormous.

Do you think the declaration of independence by the Ogoni people and natives of Bakassi Peninsular will undermine the unity of Nigeria?

I am sure that given the choice, the people of Bakassi will still want to live in Nigeria. Everybody knows that they are Nigerians, anyway. Anyone who has been pushed into a tight corner would act in the same way as they have done. They were robbed of their land. Bakassi was ceded to Cameroun without the consent of the real inhabitants of the peninsular. When the International Court of Justice made its ruling, we expected the Nigerian government to react, at least for the sake of the people whose land was the subject of dispute, but it didn’t. It is sheer injustice to deny a people the right to their own ancestral land for any reason. In a way, the people of Bakassi and the Ogoni share a common cause. Both groups nurse similar grudges against the state. So, I am not surprised that they decided to take their destinies in their hands. Many Nigerians have condemned the method chosen by the people of Bakassi, but I see nothing wrong with it. Those people were betrayed by their own countrymen and so they decided to take their destinies in their hands. It is as simple as that. When the Ogoni were protesting the degradation of their land caused by Shell’s activities in the area, they expected the government to intervene and rescue them from environmental disaster. But neither the Federal Government nor Nigerian leaders said or did anything to help them.

What is your assessment of the Ministry of the Niger Delta and the Amnesty Programme?

The Niger Delta ministry has not lived up to the expectations of the people. As far as I am concerned, the ministry under its present leadership has achieved nothing, in spite of its mandate to ensure the development of the entire Niger Delta region. Those who are in charge of the ministry are Niger Deltans themselves, and they understand the problems of the region. I feel embarrassed that the same people are the ones who have failed us. I am aware that the ministry is well funded by the Federal Government. There is no visible infrastructural development in all the areas under the supervision of the ministry. Projects have not been completed. The Ijaw Youth Council was instrumental to the creation of the Amnesty Programme in the Niger Delta. The man who is in charge of the programme, Kingsley Kuku, is one of us. He is not doing badly in that position. Under his supervision of the programme, many ex-militants have benefitted from it and more are still undergoing skills acquisition training in different parts of the world. But there is a snag. After returning from the various training schemes sponsored through the programme, many of the boys can’t find jobs. Some of them have been complaining to us that they have no jobs. If these men fail to find jobs in the nearest future, we may have a serious problem on our hands. I want the government to compel the multinational companies exploring oil in the Niger Delta to employ these ex-militants. They have the resources to do it.

Assuming the Sovereign National Conference becomes a reality, what will be the expectations of the Ijaw?

In the first place, we shall press for the creation of a new state, a single homeland that will accommodate all the Ijaw people in other states across the country. We are not happy with the way our people are being shared, cutting across many states in the country. There are Ijaws in Ondo, Lagos, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States. In fact, we might request the creation of two additional states, instead of one to resettle this people. Secondly, we shall agitate for increased resource control. One of the factors that will guarantee peaceful coexistence in this country is resource control. If we were in control of our resources in the Niger Delta, Nigeria would not have found itself in its current predicament.

-Punchwp_posts