IYC demands 70% ownership of modular refineries
The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) has vowed to frustrate the operations of licensed modular refinery operators in the region if the federal government fails to review the licensing process and give 70% ownership of the refineries to people from the Niger Delta region.
Factional President of the IYC (Worldwide), Oweilaemi Pereotubo, who gave the warning yesterday at a press conference in Warri, also said the Ijaw nation’s support for the call for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation only meant the call for resource control and fiscal federalism.
The Ijaw youth body also gave a 90-day ultimatum, starting from July 12, 2017, to all multinational companies with field operations in the Niger Delta, but headquartered outside the region, to relocate their headquarters back to the region, where their primary field activities are located, or face dire consequences.
Pereotubo, who addressed the conference at the Press Centre of the Warri Correspondent Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), noted that the decision of multinationals to take the headquarters of their businesses to other places, especially Lagos state, had robbed the people of the Niger Delta of their due benefits and growth, but had on the other hand nourished Lagos.
“After series of meetings, the IYC has resolved that as long as the Ijaw nation remains part of Nigeria, the oil companies must comply with the presidential order by relocating their headquarters to their operational bases in the Niger Delta within 90 days (three months), beginning from the 12th day of July, 2017. We do not wish to reiterate that the failure to heed this ultimatum will have dire consequences.
“Over the years, monies that were supposed to accrue to the Niger Delta states and their people have been paid to Lagos state, thereby boosting their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Relocating the headquarters will not only boost the revenue base of the Niger Delta states, it will also bring about employment opportunities, thereby reducing youths restiveness in the region”, he said.
On the threat to frustrate operations of modular refineries if the current arrangement is continued, Pereotubo, who said that the 56 licenses already issued had been issued to non-Niger Delta private investors, demanded that the conditions for obtaining the license be relaxed so that it could be affordable for indigenous Niger Delta people.
“The IYC was shocked to the marrows after discovering the fact that not a single one of the beneficiaries is a Niger Deltan, not to talk of being Ijaw. We will take our destinies in our hands to stop those companies from operating in our territories and we will do this by any means possible, including paying the supreme price to liberate our people from the hands of our oppressors.
