Royal fathers from the South-South geopolitical zone yesterday met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where they presented a catalogue of demands to the government.
The paramount rulers under the aegis of South South Monarchs Forum, lamented that the area that produces the wealth of the nation has nothing to show for it.
The monarchs’ visit came barely 24 hours after a Warri Chief and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Ayiri Emami, declared that fighting criminality in the Niger Delta without putting in place infrastructure in the region will not achieve any results.
Chief Ayiri also lamented the poor state of infrastructure in Delta State area, especially the road leading from Warri to Escravos and the need to dredge the Koko and Warri ports.
The Itsekiri Chief disclosed that oil theft has drastically reduced to about 80 percent as a result of the efforts of the communities in the state.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting with the President, Chairman of Delta State Traditional Rulers, Major Gen Felix Mujakpiruo, said that issues bordering on dilapidation of infrastructure were presented to the President.
He said, “We come to our listening President with a catalogue of our requests in the region. In the region we produce, we give resources to the country and yet we are suffering in the midst of plenty.
“So, we just have to catalogue our sufferings and what we want the President to do for us so that we can feel that we are part of this country.”
“Oh! the President said he will listen, he will look at our request and he will do the needful.
“There are a lot of things that we said he should do for us like the East West Road that has been abandoned for so many years and most of the roads in the South South you cannot have access to Abuja. From Port Harcourt to Aba is not passable, from Benin to Uromi to Okene are not passable.
“We also felt like he should try and link up the Itakpe Railway to Abuja Railway so that right from Warri we can drive to Abuja. What about the abandoned ports?
“We feel that if those ports are revived it will bring employment for our people and it will improve the economy of this country.”
Also speaking to journalists, the Minister of Niger Delta Development, who led the delegation, Abubakar Momoh said, “These are the owners of the region, the more you engage them, they will talk to the youths and those who are involved but when you keep them away it becomes a problem because they will not have that sense of belonging of continuing to talk to the people.
“And above all, it is also to look at the infrastructure of the region.
“When we engage the youths in entrepreneurship training and the rest of them, it can also step down the wave of theft.
“The door should be opened to the people like this because they are the custodians of the peace of Niger Delta. The meeting that has happened today I can regard as a huge success.”
Asked on the state of infrastructure of the region and how it is been taken care of, he said, “Generally I think we may also carry out some kind of wholistic examination on what we call oil theft in Nigeria whether it is not even the kind of professional stealing from even the people who are even producing the oil because if there is no vandalisation and yet you are talking of oil theft I think it has got to a point where government will also look critically into this so-called oil theft whether it is actually oil theft or those people who are in charge are the ones stealing the oil and giving it a different name believing that it is the youths of the region because I understand that even at the point of loading to overseas.
“They can reduce the figure and at the end of the day you think the oil is stolen. I think that these are areas that the government will have to look at in due course.”