Youths of the Niger Delta region have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order military action against herdsmen across the nation as he did to curtail the activities of groups in the country.
The youths, under the aegis of Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM), also rejected the establishment of Cattle Colonies in the region, insisting that cattle rearing is a private business and those involved should take care of their business.
In a communiqué issued in Port Harcourt at the end of national executive council meeting of the movement and jointly signed by its National President, Comrade Joe Jackson, and the National Secretary, Amakuro Isaac, the NDYM condemned the recent killings in Benue, Taraba and other parts of the country by herdsmen.
The communiqué read in parts, “NDYM condemns, in the strongest terms the killings by marauding herdsmen in Benue, Taraba and other states of the Federation and consequently urge President Mohammadu Buhari to set up a military operation to fight this menace as he did in other zones of the Federation.
“NDYM totally rejects the purported proposal of ‘Cattle Colonies’ in the region since it is a private business just like other private agro-allied businesses in the country.”
They appealed to aggrieved Niger Delta agitators to lay down their arms for the overall interest of the region and explore the option of dialogue.
“Consequently, we call on the President to quickly implement concrete development agenda as agreed upon by the Niger Delta Stakeholders and the Federal Government,” they said.
The youths decried the lopsided appointments into offices of the Federal Government and called for a change.
“We urge Mr. President to, as a matter of constitution, deploy Federal Character Principle in all his appointments so as not to be seen and viewed as a sectional President as shown in the recent ‘NIA’ appointment,” they said.
They also called on the leadership of the National Assembly to speedily consider the budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) “for the interest of the region”.
“We urge the National Assembly to speedily confirm the outstanding three NDDC Representative nominees of Abia, Imo and Ondo states to forestall breakdown of the fragile peace in the region,” the youths said.
While commending the current management of the NDDC for interpreting the Niger Delta Development Master Plan, the youths called on the nine state governments in the region and all multinational companies to remit their statutory contributions to the NDDC.
“Lastly, we call on all multinational corporations and all Federal and State Government interventionists agencies to carry out programmes for the genuine development and engagements of youths of the region,” the NDYM said.
