N-Delta needs healing not amnesty, says cleric

By Udo Ibuot
PRESIDENT of the North-Western Union Mission of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Adebisi Ola, has said that the solution to the crisis in the Niger Delta lies in diverting all developments to the area, training the youths and offering employment opportunities to the people.

Pastor Ola, who spoke at an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos yesterday, said that the development going on in Abuja should be replicated in the Niger Delta if the people of the area were to be assuaged.

Noting that the amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta cannot solve the problem, because it was a pacifying strategy, the pastor stressed that what was needed was a move that would heal the wounds of the people.

Pastor Ola, noted that the solution to the problem did not lie in giving money to the leaders,but in developing the region their pay in the Niger Delta, the area would become healed.

According to him, their land has been messed up because people have left the cocoa fields, the groundnut farms and palm oil plantations and now depend on oil.

He said the crisis arose because the goose that lays the golden eggs was not being taken care of.

On the sacking of managing directors of five banks by the Central Bank governor, Lamido Sanusi, Pastor Ola said he was in support of the move. He said: “I am with Sanusi. How can someone take a loan of N9billion without collateral? It is unbelievable. Let him complete all the banks so that there will be sanity.”

Speaking on why the Adventist did not join the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ola said no adventist would pray that God should destroy his enemies, but would pray for their enemies. He said that the Seventh Day Adventist was seeking collaboration with the bishops of CAN and the Sultan of Sokoto on the fight against malaria, and was prepared to support the scheme financially.