IYC says N65b not enough to solve region’s issues

chika ebuzor

December 15, 2016 5:54 PM

The Federal Government, in the 2017 budget, increased the allocation to the oil rich region from N20b to N65b.

Spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Eric Omare.

The Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide (IYC) has said N65b will not be enough to solve the crisis in the region.

The detail of the allocation was contained in the 2017 budget which President Buhari presented before the National Assembly on Wednesday, December 14, 2016.

The spokesman of IYC, Eric Omare said the people of Niger Delta should not celebrate the increase in allocation.

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Omare said “To put in in a proper perspective, it should be noted that this increase is not for development of the Niger Delta, but for security and probably a bit of human capacity development.

“The attention should be on how much is budgeted and released to the NDDC, the Niger Delta Ministry, the Ministry of Works concerning the Niger Delta. Those are the areas we should be interested in.

“We need to commend him, however. But this move has to be genuine. It is one thing to propose a budget, another for it to be passed and yet another thing for it to be released.”

He also thanked Mr. President for increasing the allocation for the amnesty office.

Meanwhile, President Buhari has assured Nigerians that the 2017 budget will get the country out of the current economic crisis.

chika ebuzor