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IYC decries N19tr capital flight from Niger Delta

By Julius Osahon, Yenagoa
20 September 2019   |   3:03 am
Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has frowned at the flight of mind-boggling N19 trillion from the Niger Delta region. The concern was coming on the heels of a recent publication by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries

Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has frowned at the flight of mind-boggling N19 trillion from the Niger Delta region.

The concern was coming on the heels of a recent publication by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that the Federal Government had spent about $54.6 billion (about N19 trillion) importing refined petroleum products.

IYC posited that if the Federal Government’s promise of setting up modular refineries had been made good, it would have helped to save such huge sum that could finance the country’s three years’ budget.

Speaking to newsmen in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, secretary-general of IYC, Mr. Alfred Kemepado, expressed displeasure over the Federal Government’s financial recklessness, going by the recent OPEC publication.

It is sad and disheartening that such whopping sum can be pumped out of the veins of the Niger Delta, yet the region has nothing to show for it, he added.

His words, “The insincerity of the Federal Government in not setting up the modular refineries is the root of the continuous agitations and restiveness in the region.

“The Federal Government should work hard on delivering on her trailer-load of promises and pay more attention to the small developmental details of the region. For example, if the Federal Government had set up these refineries as promised, it would have helped to refine the crude oil Nigeria is currently exporting, only to be imported back with huge sums.

“This would have retained this huge amount of money in the country and created job opportunities, which would have in turn engaged the youths and kept them busy on their jobs and away from bunkering.”

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