Loyibo, speaking during an interview on Wednesday, pleads with the Federal Government to give all the ethnic nationalities the opportunity to discuss the purpose and essence of their existence.
He said, “There is no substitute for restructuring of this country. Therefore, the government at the centre should give all the ethnic nationalities the opportunity to discuss the purpose of our existence.
“I believe in restructuring and the people I represent believe in restructuring and we are pushing for it and very soon we will get there.”
Loyibo, added that Niger Delta people needed a total control of their resources and said anything short of that would not be accepted, warning that agitations would stop until the Federal Government allowed the region to manage its resources.
Loyibo added, “But we are also mindful of the fact that the current Federal Government headed by a corruption-free President Muhammadu Buhari is putting in the best that we have never seen before to address the age-long issues of the Niger Delta.
“What we are simply saying is, give 13 per cent derivation to the host communities directly and allow them to control their resources and pay taxes as was the case with cocoa and groundnut, then there would be peace in the Niger Delta.’’
Meanwhile, some former Niger Delta militants, who took part in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, have has tasked the Federal Government to probe the N541bn reportedly expended on the programme in the past eight years.
The group, via a statement by its Chairman, Lord Onipa, and its Secretary, Nengi Buna, want a publication of the list of camps that accommodated the reported 30,000 beneficiaries.
They alleged that after eight years, PAP had not kept its promises of providing accommodation, vehicles, and money for ex-militants.
“We also frown on the situation whereby stipends/allowances to delegates in schools and other training programmes are owed in arrears from five to six months. These are the issues worrying us as a group in the region.
“The amnesty programme has failed to fulfil appreciable percentage of the agreed conditions to ex-agitators. We wish to put it on record that the Federal Government has so far spent over N541bn on the programme in the past eight years.
“We wonder whether the amnesty programme is properly coordinated or it is designed to benefit some Federal Government agencies or Nigerian security agencies and those at the helm of affairs of the programme,” they stated.
However, they thretened that, “If these legitimate demands do not receive any positive response it may lead to a breakdown of law and order in the region.”
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