New Telegraph

N’Delta: Okowa decries age-long exploitation of region

Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has bemoaned the continued exploitation of the Niger Delta region by the Federal Government despite the massive oil and exploration in the region. The governor, who spoke at the launch of a book, titled: “Resource Dependence, Violent Conflict and Economic Development,” noted that the Federal Government had been unfair to the region and its people for not paying adequate attention to the complexity of the region. Okowa said: “Whether or not you like it, we are truly being exploited by the Federal Government. I do not believe that people in this region are always interested in violence.

It is the years of criminal neglect that led to it. “There is a lot of selfishness in politics. We should be asking for the accountability of the 100 per cent derivation, 13 per cent derivation is 87 per cent deprivation. Give us a 100 per cent and ask us to pay 50 per cent, but they ask you what you want to do with all that money. They have forgotten that the Niger Delta region is unlike any other region in the federation.”

Meanwhile, the Book Reviewer and Chief Economic Adviser to the Oyo State Government, Dr. Babatunde Adetunji said despite the solutions brought by the Federal Government, the region was characterised by poverty and low level of infrastructure. He noted that there was the urgent need to dialogue with Niger Delta people and stop imposing solutions on them as pointed out by the author of the book and Chairman of Warri- South Local Government Area, Dr. Michael Tidi.

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