Boroh: Oil Discovery Brought Hunger, Starvation to N’Delta

Coordinator of Nigeria’s amnesty programme for
repentant militants and Special Adviser to
President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta
Affairs, Brig. Gen. Paul Boroh, retd., Friday
argued that the discovery of crude oil in the
region has fuelled hunger and starvation in the
area.
Boroh, who spoke in Bayelsa, his state of origin,
maintained that the paradox of the oil find in
Nigeria had remained the cause of the various
conflicts experienced in the past and which is
presently threatening to crumble the country’s
economy.
He added that the over-reliance on oil had led
to a mono-economy, destruction of the
ecosystem, poverty, and conflicts as evidenced
by the current agitation by militant groups in
the region.
Speaking after inspecting facilities at the Bio
Resources Development Centre, Odi, Kolokuma/
Opokuma Local Government Area of the
Bayelsa State, Boroh disclosed that 500 ex-
militant youths from the Niger Delta would be
trained in various agro-based related skills as a
means of engaging the youths.
He warned that the amnesty office would no
longer be a place to share ‘free money’, and
urged the youths in the Niger Delta to embrace
change and join hands with the government to
make the area the agricultural hub of the
nation.
Boroh, who also witnessed the graduation and
passing-out ceremony of ex-militants from the
trainees’ pilot scheme at the Centre, described
the scheme as a success, noting that the
potential that abound in the agriculture sector
was enormous.
He pledged that some of the ex-militants would
be sent to Songhai Farms in Delta state, while
others would be sent to the various agriculture
programmes departments at the Delta State
University, DELSU, University of Port Harcourt,
UNIPORT, Rivers State University of Science and
Technology, RSUST, and the Peremabiri Rice
Farms in the state.
Boroh stressed that the President Muhammadu
Buhari led administration had resolved to
diversify the economy from oil and gas to
agriculture, which he said was the best
alternative.
“The shift from reliance on agriculture to over
reliance on oil income has had a tremendous
impact on agriculture and the localities where
crude petroleum is found.
“This has become the harbinger of hunger,
starvation, unemployment and ecosystem
degradation and that is the bottom-line of the
resource base conflict in the Niger Delta”, he
said.
He added, however, that, “President Buhari has
embarked on a drastic diversification of the
economy from oil and gas dependence and
agriculture to provide the nation the opportunity
for growth, investment, wealth and job creation”. Source, this day