The senate has expressed fear of renewed unrest in the Niger Delta region of the country.
The concerns comes on the heels of the deplorable infrastructures and joblesness among youths in the region.
Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who expressed this concern on Wednesday during debate on the 2021 budget said that for the country to achieve the crude oil production estimate of 1.86mbpd, it must maintain the peace in the Niger Delta Region.
“We are very worried of very concern because these are the people that lay the golden eggs that takes care of this economy.
“But Mr. President, they are jobless. There is nothing for them to do. It is very important that the youths of these communities are engaged,” he explained.
Omo-Agege stressed the need to engage youths of the region by ensuring that “oil companies who explore oil in these communities in the Niger Delta help in creating jobs for the youths and the only way to do that is to have their business operations headquarters located within the Niger Delta.”
On infrastructures, the Deputy President of the Senate said that “infrastructure in the region is in a serious state of decay. As we speak right now, major roads connecting Delta State to Edo State have been cut in half.
“A journey that normally takes about 40 minutes from Warri to Benin, now takes about six hours.”
Omo-Agege attributed the situation to the absence of contigency provisions in the 2020 budget.
He further condemned recent moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria to buy gold from Zamfara State.
“Not too long ago, we saw the Governor of Zamfara State come before the CBN to present a gold bar worth close to about N5billion.
“The gold bar was presented for sale to the CBN. Our people are beginning to wonder who owns this gold that is being sold to the CBN.”
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