N/Delta oil is strictly for the Ijaw people - Bayelsa commissioner declares

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- A commissioner in Bayelsa state, Austin Dressman, has stated that God gave oil to the Niger Delta region, strictly for Ijaw people

- Dressman stressed that the oil in the region was for the development of the 7 states where Ijaw people are found

- The commissioner further stated that from day one, the Bayelsa state governor has worked to unify all Ijaws across the nation

Austin Dressman, Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw National Affairs, Bayelsa state, has stated that the oil in the Niger Delta region was given by God for the development of the seven states of Nigeria where Ijaw people are found, Daily Trust reports.

The commissioner made his comments at the ongoing inter-ministerial/agency briefing in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital, while presenting his ministry’s score card.

NAIJ.com gathers that he stressed that Niger Delta oil was strictly for the Ijaw people in Bayelsa, Ondo, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Edo states.

Dressman further stated that the Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson, had made great efforts from the onset of his administration, to unify all Ijaws across the nation.

He stated that his ministry had the responsibility of achieving cohesion among Ijaw people.

The commissioner also disclosed that 30 Ijaw indigenes had been trained by the state government and employed to teach Ijaw language in various schools.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that oil and gas communities in the Niger Delta revealed that from 2007 to 2014, a total of seven years, not less than one trillion, seventy-four billion, fifteen million, five hundred and eighty-two thousand naira (N 1,074,015,582,000.00) was remitted to the oil and gas producing communities in the Niger Delta from the 13 percent derivation funds.

But the chairmen of the host communities said despite the huge wealth from the 13 percent derivation, there was minimal or no impact in the lives of the average dwellers in the coastal areas of the volatile region.

Following the discovery, chairmen of the host communities, led by Sheriff Mulade, resolved that the federal government stop forthwith paying the money through the state governors as they were allegedly embezzling the money to the detriment of the coastal community dwellers.

Meet Sunny Ofehe, the new face of Niger Delta development - on NAIJ.com TV: