N’Delta Youth Peace, Security Confab, Soon …President, Nine Govs, Others Expected

Barring last minute changes, all is now set for the convening of the conference of the Supreme Niger Delta Youth Council Worldwide (SNDYCW) this month to address the critical issues causing tension and angst in the Niger Delta.
The SNDYCW, said yesterday that the event, conceptualised as the “First Niger Delta Youth Peace, Unity, Security, Reconciliation and Empowerment Conference”, will hold in Benin City, the Edo State capital, September 28 – 30, 2016.
National President, SNDYCW, Prince Michael Newgent Ekamon, who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja, made available to The Tide, explained that the conference was designed as a convergence of stakeholder youth groups to harness dialogue rather than show of force against the Federal Government in resolving the Niger Delta question.
The conference, facilitated by Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru Usani; Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu; and Coordinator and Special Adviser, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-Gen Paul Boroh, has as its theme: Eradication of Youth Restiveness in the Nine Niger Delta States Through Economic Empowerment as Mechanism for Sustainable and Rapid Development of the Region”.
Ekamon explained that while the “Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has graciously accepted to be the chief host for the conference which holds from September 28-30, 2016, from 10 am each day, governors from the other eight states are equally co-chief hosts.
“We expect, President Muhammadu Buhari to grace the conference as chief guest of honour. We are expecting international guests, international observers and other stakeholders. Other details will be announced as soon as there are perfected,” Ekamon emphasised.
According to the statement, the group will use the platform to push the Federal Government to show serious commitment to the sustainable peace and development of the Niger Delta region, and urged those who have branded themselves as militants and violent agitators to embrace dialogue and table their grievances on the table at the forum.
It particularly called on the Niger Delta Avengers, and other criminal elements in the region to toe the path of dialogue and negotiate with the Federal Government rather than resort to the destruction of the precious environment and ecosystems of the region in the name of efforts to ground the government, insisting that the long-term negative impact of their action would affect the present and future generations of the region more than the government and other Nigerians.
The group also dismissed Chief Edwin Clark’s claim as leader of the Niger Delta, saying that Clark was only the leader of some people of Ijaw stock, and not the entire Niger Delta.
“The so-called Niger Delta Avengers should be regarded as economic criminals and prosecuted”, Ekamon said, adding that, “We cannot continue doing things in the same old ways and expect changes.
“The presence of Chief Edwin Clark claiming to be chief negotiator for this faceless group is equally exasperating and offensive to the sensibilities of all right thinking Niger Deltans. We, members of SNDYCW reject him completely”
“We, Niger Delta youth cannot sit by and watch our common wealth being frittered away to serve the interest of a few. Clark should rather be telling us what he and our so-called other leaders had been doing with Federal Government interventions in the Niger Delta so far”, Ekamon maintained.
Ekamon, equally dismissed the alleged choice of Prof. Wole Soyinka and former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu as negotiators for the Niger Delta Avengers.
“We respect the fact that Prof Wole Soyinka is a literary figure and international personality, but we are not aware of his empathy or passion for the Niger Delta region.
As for Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, the man is an interloper and an inconsistent politician. Therefore, we do not see how these two gentlemen can adequately represent the Niger Delta. They do not have Niger Delta in mind; they have never been interested in the Niger Delta, so how can they understand the people’s pains and grievances. Selecting these two to represent them makes the motives of the Niger Delta Avengers suspicious”, Ekamon added.
He, therefore, urged all aggrieved Niger Deltans, including those who call themselves agitators or militants, to take advantage of the opportunity to ventilate their views on the way forward for the region.