By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa—Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, worldwide, yesterday, said that for the Federal Government to achieve enduring peace in the Niger Delta and the country as a whole, Nigeria must be restructured.

Calling for sincerity of purpose on the part of the Federal Government towards the resolution of the crisis confronting the region, it blamed the resurgence of  militancy in the region after years of relative peace on the failure of the presidential amnesty programme to address the fundamental issues of resource control and ownership which underpinned the agitation of the Niger Delta people.

IYC, in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the resolution of the Niger Delta crisis and the current happenings in the region, by its President, Udegns Eradiri and Spokesman, Eric Omare, also warned against military option in resolving the crisis as being canvassed in some quarters, saying that those advocating military option were enemies of the government, Niger Deltans and the people of Nigeria.

They said: “In the first place, the Niger Delta militants that have claimed responsibility for attacks on oil facilities are not stationed in any particular place as Boko Haram is stationed in Sambisa forest. There is no Sambisa forest in the Niger Delta region where the military can go and confront insurgents.

“Mr. President, the IYC holds the view that the solution that will yield an enduring peace in the Niger Delta region and Nigeria is through restructuring in such a way that substantial powers are devolved to the federating units to manage and develop their people and communities at their pace.”