Ex-militants who are members of the Akwa Ibom State Ex-Militants Forum have urged the federal government to include them in the Oil and Gas Pipeline and Waterways Surveillance (OGPWS) contract awarded to former militants.
The ex-militants on Thursday wrote a letter jointly signed by the chairman of the forum, Kingsley Umoh, the secretary, Edohouqua Godwin, and others to the leadership of the National Assembly.
The ex-militants said it was sad that they were schemed out of the surveillance contract despite being beneficiaries of the federal government’s amnesty programme.
“As beneficiaries of the Federal Government Amnesty Programme and law abiding citizens of Nigeria, we wish to draw the attention of the entire world on this subject matter. This issue is causing tension and frayed nerves among ex-militants and youths in Akwa Ibom State,” Rhythm 93.7 online quotes the letter.
The militants claimed that they were making their intentions known “after a wider consultation with our colleagues in the State”.
The ex-militants also expressed shock that the federal government had excluded them from the recent renewal and award of the oil and gas pipeline and waterways protection surveillance contract again to Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Lagos and Ogun states, excluding Akwa Ibom state.
The forum said Akwa Ibom kept on being left out of oil pipeline surveillance contracts after being left out in the 2011/2012 contract awarded by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in conjunction with the presidency to oil and gas producing states in Nigeria and the now the recent 2015 contract.
The forum states how the contract has helped to provide employment for people in the states that were rewarded: “In that contract, Bayelsa State offered employment quota for 4,000 people; Rivers 5,000 people and Delta State 3,000.
“Akwa Ibom was unrepresented in that programme without considering the plight of the people.”
The forum promised to employ at least 3,000 ex-militants and youths in the state if the government could review the OGPWS.
Edohouqua Godwin, spokesperson for the forum during a media briefing, said that the forum had earlier written to President Goodluck Jonathan and the national security adviser on August 3, 2012.
Those who were awarded the contract began their activities on 27th of April 2015.
A memo from the presidency directed the ex-militants, led by Government Ekpemupolo, Mujaheedin Asari-Dokubo and Chief Bipobiri Ajube to take over Nigerian waterways and oil pipeline protection from the police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.
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