Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has declared that members of the
militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers were only fighting for their
own interest not for the oil-rich zone.
The VP noted that the economic challenges currently facing the
country were caused by the activities of the militants at the Niger
Delta Region of the country.
The Vice President stated this on Friday at the Second Foundation’s
Day Lecture of the Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Ondo State where he
delivered a lecture titled: ‘The Future: Here Earlier Than We Thought.’
He said, “The Niger Delta Avengers are not freedom fighters, they are
not fighting for any freedom, they only fight for their pockets. You
can’t be blowing up pipelines and compound the problem of the region and
be saying you are fighting for freedom.
“It is not acceptable for anybody under any guise to be vandalising and say they are avenging, that is not acceptable.”
The guest lecturer also attributed the problem facing the power
sector in the country and the inability of many state governments to pay
salaries of workers to the activities of the militants, which had
caused reduction in the country’s revenue from oil.
He, however, said the present administration was making frantic
efforts to diversify the economic, adding that efforts were ongoing to
develop the private sector.
On whether Nigeria should be restructured to end the economic
challenges, the Vice President said the only solution to the problem was
for the federal and state governments to look for alternative ways to
develop the country other than relying on oil.
Osinbajo said, “No matter how we choose to deal with Nigerian
problem, we will still have most of the problems in the states. Most of
the revenues we have today are from the oil and taxes, so we have to
depend far more than the resources available to us in the states.
“The Federal Government cannot rely on oil any longer. So it is time
for both the Federal Government and state governments to look for ways
to develop this country. We need to open our eyes for other
opportunities other than relying on oil.”
In his remarks, the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, called
for the restructuring of the country, stressing that the future of the
country was threatened by the current economic challenges in the country
and that only restructuring could solve the problem.
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Niger Delta: You are fighting for your selfish interest – Osinbajo blasts Niger Delta Avengers
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