THE TIDE

Niger Delta Environmental Crusaders (NIDEC), an amalgamated youth movement in the six states of the region, has issued a one-month ultimatum to all multinational oil companies operating in the region to anticipate onslaughts on their operations over environmental degradation and unemployment of youths in the region.

In a release issued, yesterday, after a meeting in an undisclosed location in Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, signed by the President of NIDEC, Comrade Raphael Oweipade, it noted that the action had become necessary after thorough findings of their operations in the region.

The statement reads in part: “We have painstakingly traversed the Niger Delta region in our fact-finding voyage and all the multinational oil companies are found wanting; pollution of our environment and unemployment of our youths are phenomenal.
“We’ve gathered, reasoned together and decided to embark on a swoop against these hard-hearted, ravaging companies across the region, we’ve decided to shut their operations and we advised them to remedy the situation before it’s too late.

“We hereby ask the president of Ijaw Nation Congress (INC), and Leader of the Conference of President-Generals of Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities (CPGNDEN), Prof. Benjamin Okaba, to talk to these companies to do the needful within one month of this publication.

“This is because we will be unstoppable when we’re forced to carry out our actions against these companies and it seems necessary we respectfully ask you to help us talk to them while there’s a little time for dialogue.

“A word is enough for the wise; we’re positioned in all states of the region, patiently waiting for a response from you and these callous oil extractors in our domains”.