By joshua 
… Commends FG for sustaining presidential amnesty programme
Ayo Ola
The 21st Century Youths of Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience (21st CYNDAC) has warned against blowing up pipelines and causing environmental havoc to the Niger Delta region.
The leader of the group, Izon Ebi, in a statement on Friday therefore also called on security agencies to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators who, he alleged, were hiding under agitation to be blowing up pipelines and causing environmental havoc to the region.
He also stated that the federal government has been magnanimous enough in sustaining the presidential amnesty programme.
According to him, genuine agitators of the program have benefited from the skills acquisition programme of the scheme and have become more useful to the region.
He opined that the Niger Delta is hosting 90 percent of the hydrocarbon deposits in the country. He alleged that citizens of the region occupy less than 5 percent of executive positions in the management cadre of the oil and gas companies whose resources are domiciled in the region.
Ebi said, “The 21st Century youths of Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience (21st CYNDAC) is miffed by a plethora of organized blackmail and intimidation targeted at Niger Delta sons in the oil and gas sector by a militant group.
“Our organization will have ignored the diatribe of these people, but to put the records straight and to tell the world that these acts are that of elements of questionable intentions and characters and have no bearing to the aspirations of the people of the region, we have to lean our voices to reason than pecuniary benefits.
“Despite the Niger Delta hosting 90% of the hydrocarbon deposits in the country, citizens of the region occupy less than 5% of executive positions in the management cadre of the oil and gas companies whose resources are domiciled in the region. It, therefore, smacks of utter insensitivity and stupidity for a band of people to go on a petition spree on the few sons of the region at the management cadre of different organisations and parastatal to intimidate and soften them up for extortion.”
He added, “These faceless group, instead of advocating for the stoppage of the oil spill and support the remediation of the oil spill in the Nembe creeks, which has been on for three weeks, now are intimidating the few people of the region whose input are needed in this dire situation.
“It should be on record that these groups are not representing the youths and people of the region. “The security agencies should do the needful by arresting and prosecuting these people who under the auspices of agitation are blowing up pipelines and causing environmental havoc to the region. “The federal government has been magnanimous enough in sustaining the presidential amnesty program over the past 15 years and genuine agitators of the program have benefited from skills that have made them useful to themselves and the region, any group of people hiding under the umbrella of ex-agitators to intimidate and extort the few Niger Delta Sons whose inputs are needed to ameliorate the sorry plight of the region would be resisted vehemently by our organization and affiliates.”