Bayelsa State governor, Dr. Goodluck Jona-than, has said that over 80 per cent of cases of hostage taking in the Niger Delta region are commercial in nature and are carried out by some greedy people.
The governor, who disclosed this in Ilorin, Kwara State, said the crisis in the Niger Delta had been on for over 50 years and would only disappear gradually.
Governor Jonathan said the actual crisis in the area was that of poverty among the people and not that of hostage-taking or destructive youths.
The governor, who said he was in Kwara State to understudy the agricultural projects of the state government, said his administration planned to use the Kwara models and programmes in agriculture to create jobs for the people of Bayelsa.
�A region producing the country�s oil resources for 50 years without having any concrete development for its people will definitely have crisis��, Jonathan said.
According to him, the solution to the problem in the area was creation of wealth through projects that would make the people to be gainfully employed and had stable sources of livelihood.