IYC sends strong warning to FG over fresh wave of Niger Delta militancy

By Enaibo Asiayei 

The Ijaw Youths Council Worldwide has warned that a second wave of militancy is looming in the Niger Delta region if the Federal Government fails to fully implement the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

The council said the country would not survive a return to militancy by aggrieved youths in the region and wondered why the government chose to play politics with an important scheme like PAP.

The IYC President, Timothy Igbifa, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Wednesday recalled that the amnesty project was initiated to take youths out of the creeks and integrate them into the society through a well-organised programme of empowerment and development of the region.

“The amnesty scheme has not lived up to its purpose. The Federal Government has failed woefully to take the programme beyond the disarmament and demobilisation stage because they feel they have successfully brought the youths out of the creeks and nothing is disturbing oil production. So, the government is currently playing politics with the scheme,” he said.

The IYC President said all stakeholders had waited in vain to see multiple jobs created in the region by the amnesty programme and the transformation of the Niger Delta into modern cities bubbling with economic prosperity and social harmony.

The IYC boss, however, said the appointment of Col. Miland Dikio (retd.) as the interim administrator of PAP had provided the government another opportunity to reposition the programme.