The Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, on Tuesday accused President Muhammadu Buhari led regime of ignoring over 600 Confab recommendations by 492 imminent Nigerians.
It said the country would have moved forward if the government had implemented the recommendations.
The Chairman of PANDEF, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (Rtd) who was also a member of the confab said some of the nagging issues in Nigeria presently including ranching, were all addressed in the document.
Nkanga spoke while responding to issues raised by the National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, comrade Danielson Akpan, who paid him a courtesy call in his residence in Uyo, the state capital.
According to him, “In 2014, there was a national conference which brought out 600 recommendations on issues affecting Nigeria.
“492 imminent Nigerians were there, all the decisions were taken by consensus. We were witnesses when former President Jonathan handed over to Buhari’s regime and from there all the recommendations went into dustbin.
“Why are you not worried to know the things contained in the document? Some of the things we are talking about now, something like ranches, the state police etc were all there in that document.”
He said Nigeria has not made any meaningful headway because its people worship government rather than worshipping God.
” I recalled what President Donald Trump said a few days ago. In American we don’t worship government we worship God, in Nigeria the reverse is the case. That is why we are where we are today”.
The former military Administrator of the state lamented that most Nigerians who are supposed to lend voices to the restructuring debate are not doing so because they are afraid to talk in order to protect their jobs.
He regretted that people are going blind in the region as a result of gas flaring, adding that money paid by oil companies for flaring is being distributed to the the entire federation.
“Around this region, in the night you see gas flaring in Ibeno, Sapele in Warri. These things cause problem. People are going blind because of that. The Oil companies have been paying penalties for flaring gas but a former Minister of finance said the money is too little and when the money is paid it is shared to the entire federation. If the man in Ibeno is going blind, is the man in Zamfara, also going blind?
“That is why we talked about restructuring. Restructuring means Justice and any body that is against Justice cannot benefit from Justice” Nkanga said.
Earlier, the National President of National Association of Nigerian Students, comrade Danielson Akpan, promised to mobilise his members and join forces with PANDEF and Niger Delta Governors to actualise the 16-point agenda.
Akpan said ” We have looked at our books and have come to a conclusion that enough is enough, the time for us to be part of this agitation is now, because it’s only if we stand up that these agitations can be actualised.
“We are going to mobilise our people to join you, PANDEF and Governors of the Niger Delta region to push for the actualisation of the 16-point agenda”
