Ijaw Youth Council, IYC said it did not want bloodshed between the Ijaw and Itsekiri in Delta State over the Federal Government-owned Export Processing Zone, EPZ, project, now renamed Delta Gas City.
In a statement by IYC spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, the council called on President Jonathan, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, and other Niger-Delta leaders to, “as a matter of urgency, engage the relevant stakeholders with a view to resolving pending issues to allow the smooth commencement of the project.”
The group said: “We do not want a repeat of the ugly past in Warri where the Ijaw and Itsekiri who are supposed to be neighbours killed themselves and destroyed properties worth millions of naira. We strongly believe that the Ijaw and Itsekiri can live together and manage projects as stakeholders as was done with the Escravos Gas-to- Liquid Project, EGTL, that was executed in the same area a few years ago. We call on government to set up a joint negotiation team between the Ijaw and Itsekiri, which would meet with government to resolve the contending issues. Ijaw and Itsekiri youths should be calm and resfrain from any act that would threaten the existing peace in the waterways of Delta State.”
It said the council was in support of the EPZ project as it would provide jobs for some of the unemployed youths of the Niger Delta and partly address the problem of unemployment in the region.
IYC, however, said it was worried that youths of Ijaw and Itsekiri, who should put their energies together on how to move the Niger Delta forward, would be at the receiving end in the event of any mayhem.
It cautioned that the dispute between the Ijaw of Gbaramatu and Ogulagha Kingdoms and the Itsekiri of Ugborodo, over the title and protection of stakeholders’ interest in the project should not be allowed to scuttle the laudable idea of siting the multi-billion naira project which would improve the economy of the state and country.
