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Former President Goodluck Jonathan has urged youths in the Niger Delta to shun violence and embrace peace to support economic development, which cannot happen amidst crisis.
Jonathan spoke when the executive of the Movement for Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) paid him a visit in Yenagoa to express concerns on state of the nation.
MOSIEND appealed to the former president to wade into the boundary dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa to avert impending violence amongst residents of the two states.
The former president counseled the youths to refrain from restiveness in the region which he noted supports the economy of the nation through oil and gas exploration.
According to Jonathan, the youths remain the focus of most development policies of government and therefore any attempt at restiveness and violence is against the strategic interest of the youths.
“The future belongs to the youths who are at the centre of most developmental endeavours and policies of government, so the diversion of youthful energy towards violence is not desirable at all.
“The future of this country belongs to the young ones, not for those of us who have given our youthful years and are at the verge of exiting the scene. The youths should resist every attempt to take to violence.
“Peace in the Niger Delta is very essential as any disturbance in the Niger Delta affects the country because the region supports the economy of the nation,” Jonathan said.
Earlier, president of MOSIEND, Mr Kenedy Tonjo-West, recalled that the group which was formed in 1993 as a non-partisan Ijaw pressure group played a vital role in the advocacy for the creation of Bayelsa and formation of the Ijaw National Congress (INC).
Tonjo-West said the 9th National Executive Council of MOSIEND was seeking the advice of the statesman on the plethora of challenges confronting the Ijaw nation, Niger Delta and Nigeria.
He said that the group was still in pursuit of the resource control agenda of the Niger Delta region and noted that calls for the restructuring of the Nigerian nation was drawing attention to the non-implementation of the 2014 National Conference.
The MOSIEND president appealed to Jonathan to use his position as a member of National Council of State to mobilise former heads of State to persuade the Federal Government to reverse the hike in electricity tariff and pump price of petrol
“MOSIEND is uncomfortable with the level of insecurity along our waterways and communities.
“The presence of the military is also making matters worse, as the JTF have parried professionalism aside and hobnobbing with illegal oil bunkerers, as exemplified in the Bonny River.
“Your Excellency, sir, we most respectfully appeal that you wade into the Oluasiri/Soku boundary issue with a view to finding lasting solution to these intermittent squabbles between Rivers and Bayelsa.
“Please prevail on the two state governors in the region that are supposed to close ranks to address this dispute and its associated problems limiting our progress in the Niger Delta region,” Tonjo-West said.
