It would be recalled that while the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and its affiliate bodies did not participate in the national protest, tagged hunger protest to address the hardship faced by Nigerians that started from August 1st till August 10th 2024, the IYC clearly stated reasons why it did not join the protest with a promise that Niger Deltans and Ijaw Youths shall meet to design her own demands before the Federal Government.

While the IYC is also very empathic to the plights of Nigerians at this critical point in time, we make bold to say that Council perceived dark sinister motives behind the protest as the IYC is not agitating for the disintegration of this country, neither a change of Government through the back door and other very questionable and strange demands away from the Ijaw struggle for resource control and self determination that is a threat to Nigeria’s democracy. This was why we were not surprised when people purportedly raised the Russian flag during the protest.

In line with our earlier position as a council that we shall be coming up with our post protest review and demands from the Ijaw Youth Council before the Federal Government of Nigeria, after due consultations, we have come up with the following demands for the Federal Government to take urgent action.

The Ijaw nation being the oldest tribe in Nigeria and the largest oil producing ethnic group that accounts for over 70 % oil reserve in Nigeria states our demands as follows:

1. East West Road, it is our call before the Federal Government that the East West Road should be given a serious attention by the ministry and agencies involved as we are not comfortable with the snail pace the road is taking, there shall be no excuses on the speedy fixing of the entire East West Road, particularly the Niger Delta axis of the road.

2. Coastal Road, while the IYC lauds His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for initiating the Coastal Road, it is our demand that Coastal Road should also start from Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Rivers. It is our fear that if this is not done, the road might only cover the South West without getting to the South South that is producing the funds for the project.

3. Refinery, it is our demand that the refineries in the country must be encouraged within to ensure that they produce refined products to serve the growing needs of Nigerians. We cannot depend solely or majorly on importation to serve the growing population in Nigeria. We must move away from dependency to a producing state.

4. Today, going forward, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and the Ijaw people want to have a say and a sense of belonging in the Oil and Gas Industry, for so many years, our people are hardly employed, neither the few ones that are there are hardly promoted. This dichotomy has to be reviewed to accommodate the Ijaw and the Niger Delta people.

5. Shell Divestment, the Ijaw Youth Council have taken a position on the Shell’s Onshore Assets Sale to a Consortium that unless our people are given the right of first refusal and our people are included, we cannot accept the the purported sale of the Shell’s Onshore Assets in the Niger Delta. Shell must also clean-up our environment properly before its planned divestment.

6. We are calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria and the multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to relocate their IOCs headquarters back to the Niger Delta region as their original operational base. This injustice has festered for too long.

7. We need proper explanation on the dangerous move by the Federal Government of Nigeria for piping Gas from the Niger Delta to far away Morocco without our people included or participating in the process. The IYC is seriously concerned about this scary development.

8. Finally, the IYC is also using this medium to inform the state Minister for Petroleum (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, State Minister for Petroleum (Gas), Administrator Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), High Chief Dennis Otuaro PhD, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, Md/Ceo Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Minister, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and other critical and relevant agencies in the region for engagement on the way forward for the region and Ijaw nation in no distant time.

Signed
Sir Jonathan Lokpobiri Snr,
President Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide.

Amb. Binebai Yerin Princewill
Spokesman Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide.