NIGER DELTA INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT FOR RADICAL CHANGE (NDIMRC)

Offices: Oporoza, Headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West L.G.A., Delta State.
&

Sani Abacha Expressway, Yenogoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

E-mail: ndimovement4radicalchange@gmail.com

OPEN LETTER TO HONOURABLE PETROLEUM MINISTER

The Minister of Petroleum Resources,

Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke

Ministry of Petroleum Resources,

Abuja, Nigeria.

15.02.2015

Honourable Minister,

IJAW MUST HEAD NNPC NOW!

Honourable Petroleum Minister, we write to first and foremost commend your giant strides in the Oil and Gas Sector of our economy. No one could have done it better than you as you have succeeded where many have failed. We implore you to continue your good work for the nation and the people.

But our dear sister, and Honourable Petroleum Minister, we sincerely want to appeal to you to continue to protect Niger Deltans, especially the Ijaws working in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), but being deprived in many ways.

The Ijaws working in NNPC are being threatened on a daily basis; they are being marginalized and this is why we are writing you this open letter to urge you to appoint an Ijaw man as the new Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC.

Honourable Minister, if you recall, former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed somebody from the West as GMD of NNPC during his tenure and also the late President Umaru Yar’Adua appointed a Northern as GMD of NNPC when he was at the helm of affairs and we are imploring you as a true daughter of the Niger Delta region to prevail on our illustrious son, President Goodluck Jonathan to move fast now to appoint an Ijaw man as GMD, NNPC.

Honourable Minister, we know that you have the power to meet up with our humble request which is not out of place as your counterpart, the Honourable Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala did in facilitating the appointment of Mr. Godwin Emefiele as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

One thing we must let our own dear sister to know is that those piloting the affairs of NNPC are doing a great disservice to Nigerians, especially our people from the Niger Delta region. They are in the habit of revealing what is happening in the Oil and Gas Sector to their people in the West and North who are major beneficiaries of oil blocs from our region. This situation has not helped you as a Minister and our suffering people. The current GMD of NNPC is like the Jega of INEC and if you have ‘Jega’ in your leg, the best thing is to get rid of it.

We write to tell you that the time has come to appoint a capable Ijaw man in NNPC as its new Group Managing Director as we are not in short of supply of one and so act now on our patriotic demand as this is the only way to go.

Our Honourable Minister, if you must know, those running the affairs of NNPC at the moment do not approve jobs for our hardworking indigenous investors in the Oil and Gas Sector. We urge you NOT to waste further time to make an Ijaw man the new GMD of NNPC because we have come to a point of NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER. Do the needful now for the people of the Niger Delta region and do not mind people like the former Defence Minister, General Theophilus Danjuma and his co-travellers, who may not feel comfortable with our agitation. The truth of the matter is that nobody can threaten you as we will continue to stand solidly behind you in your determination to improve the condition of our people who have invested heavily on capacity building in the Oil and Gas Sector.

Honourable Minister, we know for sure that you are coming back as Petroleum Minister to finish with President Jonathan in 2019 as you have tried tremendously in the Sector.

But we implore you to make another history in your life by being the first female Petroleum Minister to appoint an Ijaw man as GMD of NNPC. Ours is not a selfish request, but we are doing this for national interest. As the goose that lays the golden eggs, we deserve a better deal from the Nigerian Nation. We know that you are capable of meeting our demand. It is possible and it is up to you, do not fail us.

Honourable Minister, we have been very matured in all our activities and have refrained our youths from all forms of protests, but we are now warming up seriously to embark on a peaceful protest to your house in Abuja if you fail to pay attention to our demand and after the protest, we will resist you from voting back home in the March 28, 2015 Presidential election.

Our dear Minister, do not disappoint us because if you do, we will take our protest further to where you will cast your vote during the 2015 general elections and we will make sure that you do not vote because we know the suffering our people are passing through in the Oil and Gas Sector. We are peaceful and we want to remain so, but we should not be pushed too far.

Our Honourable Minister, you are not associated with failure and we plead that you do the needful now for the Ijaw nation. An Ijaw man should be made to head NNPC now.

Long live Niger Delta Region,

Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria

Sign: