A delegation of monarchs from the Niger Delta, on Tuesday, met President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, imploring him to provide economic relief for the goose that lays the golden egg.
Led by the Chairman, Delta State’s traditional rulers, Maj Gen Felix Mujakperuo, they demanded the president’s intervention to make life more meaningful for the people of the region.
Speaking to correspondents after the meeting, Gen Mujakperuo lamented the predicament of the region despite being the economic backbone of the country.
He said: “In the region we produce, we give resources to the country and yet we are suffering in the midst of plenty.”
The traditional ruler expressed the hope that President Tinubu would do the needful in the provision of relief for the region and its people.
On what they discussed with the president, he stated: “There are a lot of things that we said he should do for us like the East-West Road that has been abandoned for so many years and most of the roads in the South-south you cannot have access to Abuja. From Port Harcourt to Ana is not passable, from Benin to Uromi, to Okene is not passable.
“We also felt like he should try and link up the Itakpe railway to Abuja, so that right from Warri we can safely drive to Abuja.
“We feel that if those ports are revived it will bring employment for our people and it will improve the economy of this country.
“We just have to catalogue of our sufferings and what we want the President to do for us so that we can feel that we are part of this country.
“The President said he will look at our request and he will do the needful.”
Also speaking, Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh, said the more engagement with leaders of the region, “the more they will talk to the youths and those who are involved but when you keep them away it becomes a problem because they will not have that sense of belonging of continuing to talk to the people and above all is also to look at the infrastructure of the region.”
He added: “When we engage the youths in entrepreneurship training and the rest of them it can also step down the wave of theft.
“The door should be opened to the people like this because they are the custodian of the peace of Niger Delta ,the meeting that has happened today I can regard as a huge success.”
