By Francis Sadhere, Warri
Old Warri Boys and girls under the platform of Warri Beyond Boarders during the weekend urged the Federal Government to restore activities at the Warri Port, Warri Refinery and other Federal presence in the oil rich City of Warri.
The group made this call in Warri during a world conference held at MOM Civic Centre, Warri.
The group lamented the sorry state of the once consmopolitan city where everybody lived together as brothers and sisters irrespective of where you come from.
They said they can no longer fold their arms while three Federal Government deliberately run down the Warri Port and the Warri Refinery all in the guise of politics.
Evangelist Eddy Orogun who spoke on behalf of the group lamented that the Warri that they were born in and which they once gleefully celebrated to the envy of other comparable cities, is losing her landmark indices of a city.
“All the companies such as Delta Steel Complex, Shell Petroleum Company ,Chevron, Texaco, Halliburton,. Globestar, etc which provided employment for hundreds of thousands of our people are either comatose or have moved their operations from Warri.
“The Sea port which was a beehive of economic activities is in a sleepy state. The Refineries and Petrochemical companies operate nominally only
“Absence of good network of roads make vehicular and human movements a burden instead of pleasure. The rising unemployment for the growing youth population has turned Warri into a crime infested community.
“Poor and insensitive representation from elected government officials have serially failed to address even the least of our needs.
“It is in this regard that we call on all well meaning Waffarians to show empathy and compassion for our bruised youths, irrespective of personal losses inadvertently inflicted on us, and join hands with us to rebuild the Warri and Nigeria of our dream we cherish to bequeath to the next generation,” Mr Orogun said.
Earlier, a member of the group and also President, Warri Boys Association, Lagos branch, Mr Harrison Jalla, who spoke to BusinessDay at a location where they were rehabilitating a section of a failed road at Eboh, said “Warri Beyond Boarders had come to restore Warri back to it’s glorious old days where everybody lived as brothers and sisters.”
“We are telling the Federal Government that the Warri Port must be busy, the Warri Refinery must be busy, the PTI must be busy and all the Federal presence here must be busy.
“The Federal Government has its presence here through the NPA, the Refinery, the Delta Steel Company and the rest of them. We want to draw the attention of the Federal Government and let them know that this is the economic foundations of this country. The wealth of this country comes from this place and we cannot stand by and watch the Federal Government neglect this place.
“So we are doing here today is to draw the attention of the state and federal government that Warri is a cosmopolitan city. It is too important be neglected by the Federal Government. We also want to let the state Government that this is a place from time immemorial that we were coexisting peacefully. There was no division and there was no dichotomy among the people. But they came with their politics and divided the people,” Mr Jalla said.
Also Mr Hosanna Jalogho, a member of the Warri Beyond Boarders, said that the crisis between the Ijaws and the Itsekiris has divided the people of the oil rich City of Warri.
He said, “On the state of the Warri Port, before now the port used to be busy with activities. I see the killings of Warri Port as a deliberate political scheming to reduce the financial strength of the Warri people.
“We are where are today in Warri because they keep telling us that the port is too shallow. But we all know that all these are political statement. The Warri Port is a natural sea port. When they begin to say all these things we all know that they are blatant lies from the pit of hell. But someday somehow we will get there.”
Mrs Yeye Rewane, who is based in Lagos but came back to Warri after about 25 years away from Warri said she had to come back to Warri after many years because she believed in the platform of the Warri Beyond Boarders to restore Warri back to its former glory.
She said, “Look at what is happening to all the roads in Warri. Nobody is maintaining the roads again. People are afraid to come to Warri because of the kidnapping that is going on. But today we are saying that we want Warri back to it’s former glory. We are going to mobilize all the women in Warri and reclaim this city to it’s former glory.”
