Harboursandport.com: Bayelsa State - Mr. Ebilade Ekerefe, an aspirant to the office of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide, has assured that he would engage the youths of Ijaw nation and other Niger Delta youths to end oil theft and other economic sabotage in the region if elected.
Ekerefe, at an interactive session, on Wednesday in Yenagoa also advised the Federal Government to give licenses to indigenous companies that have the capacity to go into modular refineries. This, according to him, is one of the surest ways to stop oil theft in the region.
He said: “Oil theft is one major issue that is affecting the economy of our country. What is locally known as kpofire is destroying our environment. The life expectancy rate of our people is being cut short as a result of these nefarious activities that are going on. The IYC should be able to work with the government to put an end to oil theft and illegal oil bunkering.
“If I am elected as the IYC president, I will advise the government to give licenses to indigenous companies that have the relevant capacities to go into modular refineries. That is the only way the issue of oil theft and illegal oil bunkering can be reduced to its barest minimum.
“You can not continue to use the military to intimidate our people, continue to use government and multinational oil companies to siphon the oil and gas resources that are in the Niger Delta region while the people are poor with no employment and you expect that they will not go into economic sabotage. The only panacea to solve this problem is to encourage modular refineries.
“As a spokesperson, I have taken IYC from an organisation of just agitation to human capacity building, because I realized that we cannot be doing all the agitations to call on the government to attend to our issues when the IYC as an organisation has not been able to look inward to see how we can also build the capacities of our youths in the contemporary society to rise up to the challenges that affect us. I realized that ICT is the major area where our people are lagging behind.
“In 1998 when we started, there was no technology, it was basically predicated on arms agitations. In this era, we have technology that from the comfort of your home you can just click into your system and the entire world will know what is happening.
"Most times when we approach multinational oil companies on how our people can be carried along, the question they always ask is, are your people computer compliance? And quite frankly, most of the people that we have recommended for job opportunities do not have the ICT knowledge to fit into the various job opportunities. We saw that there is no need for us to engage in baseless agitation that is not yielding any result. So, we went into the ICT sector and today we are able to train over 80 Ijaw youths in computer coding, programming, graphic designing, and other aspects of computers that are very relevant to societal development.
“They were all certified, and computer laptops were given to all the beneficiaries that participated in the first batch of our free ICT programme, the second batch of the programme has already commenced, where over 115 Ijaw youths across Ijaw nation that are resident in Bayelsa are currently undergoing and by the special grace of God, they will soon complete their three months compulsory computer ICT programme, and they will be given computer laptops and starter packs.
“For IYC to get to the next level, human capital development is very important, the era where we will be doing only agitation is over, the world is gradually moving into technology, agriculture, including oil and gas, so if we can build the capacities of the Ijaw youths in these sectors, and other relevant areas where they can have the expertise. There is no way multinational oil companies who are operating within the Niger Delta region can tell our people that they do not have the necessary tools to participate in the businesses that are going on in the oil and gas sector."
He added: “We have not been strategic enough in our engagement, I don't believe that the IYC in this 21st century should be going to companies and blocking their gates to demand the rights of our people. We can do that through constructive engagement, without even going into violent confrontation. It all depends on how we market the IYC, and make it look attractive and responsible and reasonable organisations will partner with us.
“As Spokesman of IYC, I have started that engagement and by the special grace of God, if I emerge as the President of IYC, we will expand the frontiers of the achievements that we have already recorded in the ICT sector. We will partner with the Bank of Industry to access soft loans and grants for our youths to engage in SMEs."
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