Ijaw youths say Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade targeted against Niger-Delta, Jonathan

The umbrella body of Ijaw youths worldwide, Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has alleged that the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari is skewed towards sacking indigenes of the Niger Delta in the oil industry and undermining achievements recorded by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Disclosing this yesterday, while briefing newsmen in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on the state of the nation, President of the Council, Udengs Eradiri, however expressed his group’s readiness to support the ongoing anti-corruption crusade and restructuring campaigns.

He disclosed that though the IYC has given conditional support for President Buhari’s anti-corruption and restructuring effort, the decision to only probe the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan is selective and targeted to rubbish the achievements of the last administration.

The IYC President disclosed that, although a formal complaint on the restructuring of the oil and gas sector has been sent to the Presidency on the need to increase funding that will allow for more development in the region, “the recent downsizing is the one that we have critically looked at and we felt that while downsizing, the issue of federal character is not considered”.

According to him, “The recent downsize that took place in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) basically affected the indigenes of the oil producing states of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom. It is expected that the man who produces more should be part of the management or should be seen as part of those managing the resources from the region.

“And so, when we looked at the downsizing, we discovered that it was skewed towards the direction we did not like. We decided to draw the attention of the President and the Nigerian public to it,” he said.

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