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IJAW YOUTHS COUNCIL
National Secretariat
1 AGGREY ROAD PORT HARCOURT

TIME FOR A NEW NIGERIA

BEING TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE 12th MOBILE PARLIAMENT OF THE IJAW YOUTHS COUNCIL HELD IN OTUASEGA COMMUNITY IN THE OGBIA AREA OF IJAW LAND, TODAY, 5TH MARCH 2000.

INTRODUCTION

About two thousand members of the Ijaw Youth Council attended the 12th Parliamentary session of the Council which took place in Otuasega community in the Ogbia area of the Ijaw Nation on the 5th day of March 2000. In attendance also were thirty-two elected IYC Parliamentarians from thirty-two clans together with the executive members of the IYC led by the President Mr. Felix Tuodolo. The meeting was facilitated by the Elimotu Movement with support from the Movement for Reparation to Ogbia (MORETO). The IYC deliberated on a number of burning national and Country issues including the Ijaw National Congress (INC),the proposed Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), The Dredging of the River Niger, legal matters from the United States of America (USA), Sharia, Earth Day 2000 and other matters. The IYC, the Parliament reaffirmed, is a mass movement committed to the struggle for the control of resources, self-determination, true federalism and a safer environment in the Ijaw area and Nigeria. Parliamentarians unanimously elected Barrister Oronto Douglas ( IYC Rep. for Abureni Clan) as the first Speaker of the Mobile Parliament and Fiyasiri Eweleye (Kalabari) as Provost. The IYC parliamentary HANSAD-verbatim report of the proceedings are available.The following are the resolutions of the parliament:

THE IJAW NATIONAL CONGRESS

The IYC expressed concern over the reported bickering in the INC and urged that the INC should at the shortest possible time put its house in order. Participants warned that the IYC would not fold its arms and allow matters of election or individual ego to divide the Ijaw people. IYC examined the reports that President Olusegun Obasanjo, Governors Peter Odilli (Rivers) and Diepreye Alamieseigha (Bayelsa) and the Shell Development Company (SPDC) have shown unusual interest in the election matters of the INC. Ijaw Youths warned all those interested in hijacking the leadership of the Ijaw nation for the benefit of these external interests to look elsewhere. The Ijaw National Congress will not be allowed to become the Ijaw National Contractors.

THE RIVER NIGER DREDGING

Ijaw youths affirmed their unequivocal opposition to the proposed dredging of the River Niger. There are clearly no ecological or economic benefits that the dredging of Nigeria's most famous River will bring to the people of Ijaw land and all other inhabitants of the Niger Delta. Parliament examined the report of the EIA and reaffirmed its total opposition to the dredging of the River particularly as it affects our people. Parliament confirmed that the dredging is to enable advocates of gunboat diplomacy to resurrect the brutal strategy adopted by the British in their quest to crush the historic resistance of our people against economic exploitation and political strangulation. Our struggle for self-determination, resource control and environmental protection, Parliament said, is for the overall good of Nigeria. The dredging is only for the good of advocates of violence and the unitary system of government. Parliament urged the government of Nigeria to develop an effective rail system and improve the existing road network for effective transportation. The Rivers of Nigeria must be allowed to maintain their naturalness. We do not have an answer to the ecological dislocation that a dredging of the magnitude as proposed by Federal Government will throw up.

THE NIGER DELTA DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

At the inception of this civilian dispensation, just as we began our march towards democracy, the Obasanjo presidency announced that they have an answer to the Ijaw clamour for development. They subsequently sold a dummy in the name of a Development Commission to us and members of the international community. We want to once again draw the attention of the whole world to the fraud that this proposal represent. First the commission as proposed will not address our cardinal request for resource control and self-determination in the manner as democratically advocated by the nations of the Niger Delta. The commission is not going to be a development agency as it is being touted by its advocates because you cannot impose development on any people or society. It is another avenue for party patronage and elitist developmental abracadabra to flourish. Our people, parliament concluded, will be worse off. Development such as this is not sustainable. Grass roots developmental initiative is what is needed so that it falls in line with the bottom-up development direction that is now favoured by specialist on the matter. We here reaffirm our belief in the IJAW DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION where resources will then be allowed to go down to communities or Clan Development Boards to be controlled by the people and cultural structures at the community levels. We must be allowed to live our lives the way we want it. We want Justice.

SHARIA FIRES AND THE THREAT TO THE NIGERIA STATE

Parliament examined the reports of the Sharia fires that have been lit in the North and the reprisal fires in some communities in the Eastern parts of Nigeria. Parliament said the Sharia is a matter of Faith and Religion. That it being a matter of faith and religion should be allowed to rest with the individuals. That however if it must be elevated to a matter of State then we must re-examine the status of Nigeria as a Country. The Nigeria state with its diversity of religion and the federating colours of ethnic nationalities must be allowed to coexist peacefully. The clamour for Sharia if viewed from the binoculars of self-determination deserve sympathy. But we insist that if the Sharia people should have their Sharia it must not affect non-Sharia peoples of Nigeria. We who stand for resource control and have continued to demand for it in the last one hundred years will continue to so demand until justice is done. We also say that let not our resources be used to fund Sharia in any way. We warn war lords of religion to keep their wars to themselves and their areas. We understand that twenty-four members of the Ijaw area who were on National Youth Service (NYSC) in the North are yet to return home following the Sharia fire of the North. We call on the NYSC to investigate this matter speedily. In the meantime we call on the NYSC to SUSPEND the National Youth Service scheme pending a SATISFACTORY resolution of the Sharia matter. We will not entertain the mindless killings of our people in the name of religion. We reaffirm our belief that the people of Nigeria must be allowed to talk through a Sovereign National Conference.

TRANSNATIONAL TRANSGRESSORS

Ijaw Youths unanimously resolved to support the legal initiative of the Ijaw National Congress United States of America (INCUSA) on the grave matter of transnational corporations and their contribution to the ruination of our environment. The council resolved to sue in its name and also to encourage individuals and communities in the Ijaw area to sue the oil transnationals that have made life unbearable and uncertain for our people. Council resolved that INCUSA should continue its bridge building project across ethnic nationalities because it is in line with the Kaiama Declaration. The Niger Delta Peoples Action project is a noble effort and urged all our brothers and sisters in the United States and elsewhere in Europe and Asia to give it the desired support.

EARTH DAY 2OOO NIGERIA

Parliament received a report of the global environmental event Earth Day 2000 Schedule for April 22 2000.Parliament empowered the IYC executive to organize our people to mark that day. Delegates were of the view that the danger of inaction as humanity continues its destructive march on the planet could have a catastrophic effect on our unknown tomorrow. Planet Earth, parliament observed, is the most endangered life form known to humanity. Planet Earth gave us so much and we have refused to support her to survive. The time for a series of locally global action is now. Specifically, parliament directed the IYC to organize wrestling matches, boat regatta, peaceful non-violent direct action, seminars, and rallies in the Ijaw area and also to draw the attention of oil transnationals to the problems that they have created. We will campaign to reclaim our ecological integrity, Ijaw Youths affirmed.

Felix Tuodolo (President)