Ijaw youths worldwide under the aegis of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) yesterday kicked against the proposed 18 per cent derivation principle to oil-producing states and five per cent to northern states affected by Boko Haram insurgency, saying the proposal by the consensus building group of the national conference “is an open invitation to war”.
According to the IYC, the proposal to increase the derivation by a paltry 5% to bring it to 18% while also proposing a 5% development fund to areas in the North ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency “is provocative, disgusting and an invitation to war”.
The IYC, in a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Eric Omare, said the proposal was “an insult to the Niger-Delta people”.
The IYC wrote: “For the conference group to recommend only 5% increase to the derivation percentage from resources produced in the Niger Delta region on the condition that 5% of the nation’s revenue would be allocated to ‘fund’ and ‘encourage’ Boko Haram activities.”
“If we may ask, where would the Boko Haram 5% revenue come from? Is it from the oil and gas revenue of the Niger-Delta region and taxes mainly collected from southern parts of Nigeria or 5% of revenue generated from the Boko Haram sponsored states?
“It has become obvious that Ijaw and Niger-Delta delegates to the national confab have run out of steam to resist the arrogance of their northern counterparts and the IYC calls on them to return home honourably.
“They have failed to achieve anything for the Niger-Delta and have further endangered the people of the region. To increase derivation by 5% and allocate 5% to fund Boko Haram to kill more innocent children, women and Nigerians is the worst decision that any person on earth would be party to.
“The Niger-Delta delegates had a mandate to demand for 100% derivation and if there must be any concession, concede to nothing less than 50% derivation and if this is not accepted by other parts of Nigeria, then return home with honour and not to sell their birth right to northerners”, the Ijaw youths stated.