Amnesty coordinator youth cooperation on pipeline security

The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier General Paul Boroh (Rtd) has urged youths and ex-agitators in the Niger Delta region to cooperate with host communities to protect national assets and installations such as oil and gas pipelines.

Boroh made the appeal during a town hall meeting with key stakeholders from Ijaw communities in Olodiama Clan at Gelegele Community in Ovia North Council of Edo state.

A statement released by the Office yesterday also read that Boroh assured that the process for formal engagement of youths in the security of pipelines in their communities was on course. He disclosed that the feasibility study for a National Gas Flare Commercialization Programme has been approved by the Federal Executive Council, in line with the United Nations-Paris Agreement on Gas Flare, saying that the first phase of the programme would focus on 48 identified onshore gas flaring sites in the Niger Delta region, as according to him, the programme is intended to convert gas being flared for cooking and electricity, among other industrial uses.

“Through the programme, about 6million households in the Niger Delta region will have access to clean energy”. It is projected to create 25,000 direct jobs and 300,000 indirect jobs through the multiplier effect. The programme is a private sector driven one and investors are encouraged to key into it. The Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum will kick start a road show to sensitise stakeholders on the programme in September”, he said.

Also speaking, a director in the state ministry of Wealth Creation, Cooperative and Employment, Festus Okougbo, hinted that the state governor, Godwin Obaseki had set up a seven-man committee to prepare a blue print for the development of a Seaport in Gelegele Community.

Earlier, in their welcome address, jointly presented by the Ama-Okosuwei of Gelegele Gbene Community and Edo State Chapter of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) on behalf of the Pere of Olodiama Kingdom, HRH Alawei Wilson G Kororo, the Alagbalabinafa III and all Ijaw Communities in Edo State, they thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for sustaining the Presidential Amnesty Programme and the appointment of Brigadier General Paul Boroh (Rtd) as Special Adviser on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, while requesting for inclusion in the scheme of governance as oil bearing communities.

They said Ijaw communities in Edo state have been denied its fair share in the scheme of things by previous administrations, lamenting that the visible absence of both federal and state governments’ presence in the area in spite of the natural resources that are found in Ijaw communities in Edo state, speaks volumes of their plight.

They appealed to the Special Adviser to the President use his good offices to facilitate the inclusion of some ex-agitators from Olodiama clan that were not captured in the Amnesty programme, provision of skills acquisition centres in the five Ijaw clans, empowerment of Amnesty beneficiaries from Ijaw Communities in Edo state, provision of slots for INC in the proposed pipeline security and surveillance jobs through the INC Community Leadership Structure to enable the body also feel the impact of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.