Amnesty: Not Yet Uhuru
Five (5) years after the freedom fighters of the Niger Delta dropped their arms following assurance of the development of the region amidst provision of employments to the youths through amnesty; the region is far from fully developed
By Ovie Edomi
It was one event that evoked a lot of emotions and comments in Nigeria. Those who love the boldness of the youths of Niger Delta commended them for speaking out other simply discussed in different tones the issues that were brought to fore.
Indeed, on December 11, 1998, in Kiama, Ijaw youths drawn from five hundred communities from over 40 clans that made up the Ijaw nation met to deliberate on issues that bothered on the Ijaw nationality within the Nigerian state.
According to the Ijaw youths the Ijaw people who are in Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Rivers State are not only minorities but suffer socio-politically, economically, culturally, psychologically and so on. Besides, they noted that the quality of life for the Ijaw people is deteriorating as a result of utter neglect, suppression and marginalization, visited on them by the alliance of the Nigerian state and transnational oil companies. They averred then that the political crisis in Nigeria is mainly about the struggle for the control of oil mineral resources which account for over 80 per cent of the Nation