Elder statesman and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark has decried the alleged refusal of the federal government to implement the 16-point agenda presented to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF in November 1, 2016.
Speaking at his Asokoro residence, Abuja, when the new national chairman of PANDEF and a former military administrator of Akwa Ibom State, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (rtf) visited him, Clark described the situation as “further marginalisation of the Niger Delta.”
The South-South leader also decried the inability of the federal government to implement the demand of the relocation of the operational headquarters of the oil companies to Niger-Delta.
The Ijaw leader who lamented that the federal government receives over 52 percent of the national revenue, observed that PANDEF was established to help resolve the crises in the region and vandalization of oil pipelines, adding that there is peace in the region today due to the body’s efforts.
“We wanted dialogue with the President so that he will know what is going on in the region; the oil pollution, the eco system that has been destroyed and environmental degradation.
“PANDEF was formed to draw the attention of the federal government to the fact that the region is very much undeveloped.”
Clark thanked the group and its new leadership for visiting him, just as he also reiterated his call for the restructuring of Nigeria, where equality of citizenship, equal development of all areas and where power will shift to the states or regions.
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