President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said that oil firms operating in the Niger Delta could do more to promote development and peace in the region.
The President, who made the observation in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State on the first day of his two-day working visit to the state said that oil firms and indeed other stakeholders in the region should join hands with the Federal Government in its new regime of radical transformation of the oil-rich region.
Obasanjo, however, had harsh words for the militants operating along the creeks of the Niger Delta, calling them �cowards wey dey attack unarmed people.�
He said none of the supposed militants could be more militant than himself as he has seen wars and engaged in more dangerous battles than they could ever imagine.
The President, who spoke in pidgin English at a civic reception in his honour at the Yenagoa Sports Complex asked the youth: �Why should we be vandals, why should we destroy, why should we take hostages?�
Obasanjo stressed that the problem that militants are trying to solve were caused by several years of neglect and as such cannot be solved in one day or through militancy.
�When war dey, you no go war, you say you be militant. Which kind militant be dat?� he queried.
�You go be militant pass me, here?� he asked, saying that �militant wey see war wey run, which kind militant be dat? Militant wey dey attack unarmed people.�
Earlier, the President had given the state government a pass mark on project execution and achievement.
The commendation came after Governor Goodluck Jonathan had requested for the building of a federal secretariat and residential quarters for federal workers in the state.
Governor Jonathan requested for the establishment of a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) area office in the state while also asking for the refund of money used for the construction of the Mbiama/Yenagoa road, the only access road to the state capital, which is a federal government road.
Oct212006