The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) yesterday tabled a number of demands before President Muhamamdu Buhari, including the restructuring of the country.
They also pleaded for a ministerial slot, boundary adjustment and the stoppage of the sale of their land by military officers.
Buhari said the military officers selling the land donated to the military in Delta State would be dealt with.
The UPU members and Urhobo members in the All Progressives Congress (APC) were led to the Presidential Villa by Dr. Laiyeguen, Ogbon-Ogoni Oghoro 1, the Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom.
The president pleaded with the Urhobo nation to protect oil installations in their communities the way they protected it during the 16 years administration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The calls for restructuring, he said, may not have caught his attention because of the parochial interest with which stakeholders were making the request.
He said some of the views expressed by different interest groups for the restructuring were uncoordinated, stressing that such clamours may not be backed by the constitution.
He also told the group that the request for Urhobo person to be in his cabinet may not be possible as the Constitution has specified that there will be one person from every state of the federation.
The President said: “I have taken note of your representation that the land given to the military is being sold. You are not the first to make this representation, so by this representation, I am constrained to tell the responsible ministry to check and find out, whoever is responsible in abusing the generosity extended to the military will be brought to book. I assure you of that.
“Firstly, the corporate existence of the country is its resources. We need your cooperation like I said for the 16 years of previous administrations who enjoyed relative peace and a lot of resources, when we came the militants suddenly realize their powers and it affected our production from 2.1 million barrels.
“But I think they have realised and have listened to you, they are prepared to give this administration a chance. I assure you that whatever this country realises through whichever resources whether agriculture or petroleum, we will use it to ensure we improve the standard of living of Nigerian.
“I have noted your representation but like I said, please persuade the so called militants to please give peace a change and stop sabotaging installations because like I said if we pollute the waters it will affect more of your people including those who depend on fishing. You don’t need money from Central Bank; what you need is secured coastlines that will enable the people earn decent living through fishing.
“So the government and you as representatives of the people have equal duties persuading those under our influence to please restrain themselves and make a lot of sacrifice for the sake of the whole country.”
He went on: “You mentioned something which is topical these days, the cause of restructuring Nigeria. For every group asking for restructuring has got their own agenda and I hope it can be accommodated by the constitution. I assure you that you are not forgotten and I’m pleased you appreciate the appointments by this administration of some citizens of your kingdoms.
“Boundary adjustments you asked for is a constitutional problem as well as the ministerial slot you asked for. If you look at the result of the election that brought this administration in, you will see that this administration has a lot of restraint in the sense that the constitution made a provision that there would be a representation in the executive council of each state. It is not possible to make each tribal group because I suspect they are around 250. 250 ministers will be too cumbersome to handle, so it is limited to the constitution. So, the only thing we can do is to pick one person per state and that is one thing we have to accept.”
The Urhobo nation, in their address read by the President General of UPU, Olorogun Moses Taiga, said:
“Grinding poverty is still a fact of life in nearly all our communities. Our youths are unemployed and frustrated but we rein them in regardless in the hope that tomorrow might be a better day.
“Hunger, despair and disease stalk our lands and our waterways which have been devastated and poisoned by years of oil exploration conducted quite obviously outside global best practices.
“But we keep the peace because we believe tomorrow will be a better day. In the past few years, our children have started asking us when tomorrow will come.”
He said the Sapele Port, which was once a bustling economic hub in the old Midwestern region, has become camotose.
“It is presently used as a naval facility with only a small part of it serving the navy’s needs. We therefore request the Federal Government to reactivate and make the port functional. This will help to decongest the Lagos ports and boost the economy of Delta and neighboring states,” he said
On boundary crisis between Delta and Edo states, the Urhobo nation sought for the intervention of the President in resolving the issue as it relates to boundary adjustment.
The UPU appealed to the president to adequately fund the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurum, Delta as a special institution.
“We note that the Delta Steel Company, Aladja has been privatised. However, it is regrettable that the new owners have failed to revitalise it.”
Speaking with State House correspondents after the visit on whether the demands were pre-conditions for the Urhobo nation to vote for Buhari in 2019, Taiga said : “Well, they are not pre-condition, they are requests. We are making requests that these are the needs of the Urhobo nation. So, once anybody willing to do those things as we said in our speech, we are partners in progress and we will work with him to ensure continuity of the nation.”