The President General, Ndokwa National Union (NNU), Pharm. Paul Enebeli, has said his people will demand restitution from the Federal Government of Nigeria over alleged deliberate marginalization and neglect.
Enebeli, a delegate representing the South South minority in the ongoing National Conference, told Blank NEWS Online that the Ndokwa people are so marginalized with nothing to show for the wealth the Federal Government is tapping from their soil, stating that seeking restitution will be one of the ways forward for his people.
According to him, the deliberate neglect of the people by the Federal Government is having a dangerous effect on them, noting that the area produces more than 20 per cent of the nation’s oil revenue and is home to the largest gas deposit in West Africa which generates 480 megawatts of electricity to the national grid yet people of the area have no electricity.
While decrying the absence of access roads, lack of potable water and devasted farmlands that are abound in the communities, he said that the present total abandonement of the people by the Federal Government has become the benefit despite what they are contributing to the nation.
“Despite all that the Ndokwa gives to the federal government, we do not have federal presence in our area. In the three Ndokwa local government areas – Ndokwa West, Ndokwa East and Ukwuani, the only thing that we have as federal government presence is a dilapidated prison yard which is in Kwale and a few Police stations located here and there, that is apart from the fact that we give about 20 per cent of the energy use of the country and we don’t have electricity in our area.
“We have so many marginal fields in Ndokwa, even in the area of appointment, since I was born, I have never seen an Ndokwa-born Minister, an Ambassador, I have never seen a Judge of whether the Supreme Court or whatever Court and so on and so forth. That is why when we talk about conference, the minorities like us want to use the opportunity to tell Nigeria that it is unfair to us.
“As a matter of fact, we should ask for restitution because government has taken so much from that place and put back little or nothing”, Enebeli insisted.
Pharm. Enebeli also stated that his people have been shortchanged with the creation of local government areas, disclosing, “in those days, when we had provinces, the present Ndokwaland used to be the Aboh Division, now, those Divisions like Aboh Division has six local government areas with two federal constituencies, but, today, the Aboh Division have three local government areas with one federal constituency and the implication is that in terms of our political economy, in terms of our money, in terms of inputs and what have you, we are losing because, if you have one constituency, you have one person representing you in the House of Representatives, if you have two federal constituencies, you will have two persons representing you and at the state level, six members of the House of Assembly instead of three and so on and so forth.”
He however revealed that efforts are on to address the marginalization of Ndokwa people and called on all Deltans to be their brother’s keepers and join the Ndokwa nation in their poise to correct the marginalization of Ndokwa people.
