An aspirant to the office of the worldwide president of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe has promised to strategically engage the youths of Ijaw nation and other Niger Delta youths to end oil theft and other economic sabotage in the region if he is elected.
Ekerefe, during an interactive session with journalists at the NUJ Press Centre in Yenagoa yesterday over his aspiration to become the 9th President of the Ijaw Youths Council in the July elective convention, he also advised the federal government to give licences to indigenous companies that have the relevant capacities to go into modular refineries, saying it is one of the surest ways to stop oil theft.
Ekerefe, who was also the immediate past national spokesman of IYC, said if elected president, he would engage the youths of the region to understand that violent agitations are no longer tenable, rather they should engage their minds in meaningful sector such as ICT, agriculture and other areas that will guarantee them better future.
He said during his tenure as the IYC spokesman, he was able to train 80 Ijaw youths on computer coding, programming, graphic designing and other aspects of computer that are very relevant to the societal problems, while the second batch training of 115 youths is ongoing to help them change their minds from agitations.
He said: “Oil theft is another major issue that is affecting the economy of our country, what is locally known as Kpofire is destroying our environment, the life expectancy rate of our people is being cut short, as a result of this nefarious activities that is going on, IYC should be able to work with the government to put an end to oil theft and illegal oil bunkering.
“When I come as the president, I will advise the government to give licences to indigenous companies that have the relevant capacities to go into modular refineries, that is the only way the issue of oil theft, and illegal oil bunkering can be addressed to its nearest minimum.
“You cannot continue to use the military to intimidate our people, continue to use government and multinational oil companies to siphon the oil and gas resources that are in the Niger Delta region, the people are poor, no employment, and you expect that they will not go into economic sabotage, the only panacea to solve this problem is to encourage modular refineries,” he said.
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