Urhobo Youth Leaders Association (UYLA) has urged the Federal Government to address the over 50 years of social-economic neglect of the Urhobo nation, threatening to shut down all oil and gas installations and production in Urhoboland, if their demands are not met.
The group, in a 10-point demand, said it would join their Ijaw and Itsekiri brothers in the Oil and Gas Host Communities in the struggle to end what they termed wicked plans of the Federal Government to deny them benefits from their God-given oil, gas, and water resources.
In a statement by its Acting National President, Olorogun Vincent Oyibode, National Secretary, Mr. Tony Ofoni and its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Samuel Oghotomo, the group said Urhobo peaceful disposition should not be taken for cowardice.
According to them, the host communities in Delta State rejected the plan to divert Delta State gas to develop other parts of Nigeria while neglecting their areas.
They called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, pay compensation of N500 billion to families of victims of the Idjerhe burst pipeline fire of 1998 that killed about 1,000 persons in Ethiope West LGA.
READ ALSO: Urhobo Youth Leader Commends Okowa For Including Several Youths In His Cabinet
They also charged the government to release the Sapele Sea Port taken over by the Nigerian Navy for it to be restored for commercial shipping in the port and also boost the economy of Delta State, noting that the Navy had been underutilising the facility at moment.
They added that the Urhobo Oil and Gas Host Communities unequivocally support demands for resource control, equity, and justice, stressing that like the Anti-Taxation Revolt in Warri Province in 1927, where Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Isoko and Ndukwa nations rejected the British imposition of head tax on male adults, they had been collectively rejecting the unjust policies of the Federal Government against Deltans.
The UYLA statement read in parts, “In spite of the enormous contribution of the Urhobo Nation to Nigeria’s development, our people wallow in abject poverty; they are shackled and impoverished by unemployment, diseases and insecurity.
“Urhobo cities and towns are neglected, dirty, clustered with slums and polluted by rickety commercial tricycles and motorcycles. For the above instances of federal neglect and injustice, Urhobo Oil and Gas Host Communities will join the Ijaw and Itsekiri in the current struggle.
“Therefore, if the Federal Government fails to address the issues and demands within the ultimatum given, Urhobo Oil and Gas Host Communities will also shut down oil and gas facilities in their areas.”
