By Festus Ahon

ASABA—ITSEKIRI Host Communities Producing Oil and Gas, HOSTCOM, yesterday, stormed the Delta State House of Assembly, Asaba, in protest against the provision of N600 million in the 2016 budget of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC.

The protesters who carried placards with inscriptions such as ‘DESOPADEC money is for development’, ‘Itsekiri say do not use of security vote to syphon our money ‘, ‘ Mr Speaker, use our money for development not security’, among others, vowed to resist any attempt to misappropriate their money.

Chanting Itsekiri songs, the people condemned the budgetary provision of N600 million, saying it was against the purpose for which the commission was established.
Addressing newsmen, Delta State Chairman of HOSTCOM, Mr Benjamin Iwetan, said that the commission’s money was meant for the development of oil producing communities.

Iwetan, who is also the leader of Itsekiri HOSTCOM, urged the state House of Assembly to appropriate the N600 million properly for the development of the communities, adding, “Our money cannot be appropriated for security. If properly utilized, this money can assist to take some of our unemployed youths off the labour market.”

Noting that they were not against security provisions, he said that “security votes cannot be drawn from DESOPADEC”
Addressing the protesters, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Chief Monday Igbuya, said that the House would look into their agitation, adding that the budget was still being looked into by the House.