Member representing Ughelli North, Ughelli South and Udu federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Francis Ejiroghene Waive, has called for unity among the different ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta region to forge a common front at the national level.
Waive stated that unless Niger Delta ethnic nationalities come together and forge a formidable front, the region would continue to be exploited by both the political class and other regions and would also lag behind in terms of development.
The lawmaker, while speaking to journalists, disclosed that the region’s political class and other major tribes had been exploring the dividing line among the ethnic groups to undermine the region.
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He stated that because the region had not been united, it had not been getting much from its rich oil resources, adding, “I believe that what we are getting now in terms of the allocation to NNDC, 13% derivation and the allocation to the states from the oil-rich region are not enough.
“It’s a far cry from what we ought to get as a people and as a region because of the environmental degradation and the effect of oil exploration of several years, but having said that, we as a people in the South-South, we need to come together as one, we need to be united because that is the only way we can fight for our right, and get what truly belongs to us.
“If we are scattered, if we are disunited, then the others will have the opportunity to take advantage of us, exploit us, use us as part to knock one another and exploit our resources.
“Look at Warri, for instance, it’s a sad story what this town has turned into when Warri Port was booming, you remember what this town used to be like, when there was Shell and when Shell was building that Osubi airport. I believe that they had good plans in mind, not to abandon it. But, look at where we are, and it’s all traceable to our inter-tribal problems and these problems do not do anybody good.”
