Appoint Isoko as minister, board members, former Delta SSG tells FG

A former Secretary to the Delta State Government, Ovuzuorie Macaulay has urged the Federal Government to appoint an Isoko as minister or chairman of boards in a viable government agency or parastatal.

He said the government at the centre should also consider the appointment of elder statesmen from the Niger Delta region, especially stakeholders in the Niger-Delta project to ensure equitable distribution of positions.

He said this in a chat with journalists yesterday in Asaba, the Delta State capital, insisting that the age-long resource control agitation by aggrieved stakeholders at the oil-rich Niger-Delta, has no place for a gentlemanly disposition.

Macaulay lamented that although the Isoko nation was blessed with huge deposits of crude oil and natural gas, it lacked basic infrastructural development from the centre since 1999.

“Apart from Senator Stella Omu, who was in the Senate from 1999 to 2003, no Isoko son or daughter has been appointed as a minster or chairman of a viable Federal Board, despite Isoko nation’s contributions to the Federal pause,” he said.

He noted that the history of resource control could not be complete without former governor James Ibori, adding: “We supported the struggle for resources control, but Ibori was the captain of the ship.

“The history of resource control agitation in the Niger-Delta region cannot be completed without giving Ibori a prominent mention, he is among those who laboured to ensure that the Niger-Delta enjoys a fraction of the wealth from the crude oil and natural gas in its soil.