Acting President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday promised the people of Bayelsa State that the much clamoured legalisation of modular refineries would be legalised in due time.
The acting president, who was on a peace visit to the state, also assured the people of the state that the Federal Government would also establish the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship Council. Speaking at the DSP Alamiesiegha hall in Yenagoa, Osimbajo admonished youths of the Niger Delta not to destroy pipelines, adding that he decided to embark on the visit in order to have first hand understanding of how the oil producing communities were interfacing with one another.
He said: “We shouldn’t destroy our environment through the breaking of pipelines and expect revenue. The world is moving away from oil. We must use the oil for development now. “We have come to propose a new vision. We will begin a new partnership with the oil producing communities.
This new vision will define the future of the oil communities.” Osinbajo further stated that a 40-point agenda had already been mapped out for the development of the oil producing communities, stressing that: “We will go into partnership with the oil producing communities.” Earlier, Governor Seriake Dickson had pleaded with the Federal Government to go into partnership with the state, nothing that the state government was ready to provide her own quota every year.”
The governor also urged the Federal Government to do more of consultation with the Niger Delta instead of using military forces on the region. “Most of the challenges we are facing in the Niger Delta are anchored in Bayelsa state adding that the state was the epicentre of the Niger Delta,” Dickson said. Disclosing that the state was below the sea level, the governor maintained that, “our wealth is in the sea.”
At the town hall meeting, the Minister of States for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said over more than $40 billion was approved to develop the Niger Delta region, which unfortunately could not be accounted for. In their separate remarks, the President of Ijaw National Congress (INC), Boma Obofurubo; Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), Udengs Eradiri; Chairman of host communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, Bob Nabena, among other groups had asked for the establishment of BASOPADEC, construction of roads Brass and Ekeremor, Ekowei and Aggey.
They equally asked the Federal Government to legalise the bush refineries and allocate oil fields to the people of the Niger Delta, to stop the flaring if gas among other things. Meanwhile, Osinbajo and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, held a brief talks at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa during a reception organised by the state government for the acting president.
The Acting President landed at the airport on his way to Bayelsa State for a meeting with stakeholders, including ex-militant leaders.
