2017 Budget: Ijaw Youths Council wants strategy to ensure adequate oil output

2017 Budget: Ijaw Youths Council wants strategy to ensure adequate oil output The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) on Tuesday, advised the Federal Government to evolve a strategy to stabilise the Niger Delta region to produce enough oil to fund the 2017 budget. Mr Udengs Eradiri, President of IYC, made the call in an interview with journalists in Yenagoa, Bayelsa capital. He said that with delays in the Niger Delta peace process, chances of meeting the projected oil productions were slim. “The Niger Delta region does not expect the present administration to solve the Niger Delta problems which has lingered for over 50 years in one fail swoop overnight. “However, over the years, successive administrations devised strategies to ensure oil output to run the country. “From all indications, and despite the hue and cry about economic diversification, the 2017 budget is premised on oil output and we urge the government to provide a road map to achieving the benchmark on paper. “The Obasanjo administration started coastal meetings, the late Musa Yaradua used the amnesty scheme to achieve stable oil production and Goodluck Jonathan consolidated the amnesty scheme that is winding up. “We want the present administration to come up with a plan to ensure steady oil output in the short term; while efforts are made to address the developmental challenges of the people in the long run,” Eradiri said. He said that the interventionist agencies set up to fast-track development of the region were being deployed by previous governments for political patronages and settlement. He pledged that IYC would closely follow developments in the Niger Delta Development Commission. Eradiri challenged the Niger Delta governors to toe the line of their predecessors and drive the development of the region from the proceeds of the derivation funds. He further said that it was former governors of the region that did the groundwork for the amnesty programme. The IYC boss said that the Niger Delta region was in dire need of economic policies to put it on the track of development. He urged the Federal Government to extend the probe to Malabu oil block deal cover other oil blocks. =============