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A representative of the dominant Ijaw ethnic group in the oil-rich Niger Delta called Saturday for the creation of two additional Ijaw states within the Nigerian federation.
YENAGOA, Nigeria (AFP) - A representative of the dominant Ijaw ethnic group in the oil-rich Niger Delta called Saturday for the creation of two additional Ijaw states within the Nigerian federation.
"We want two additional states to give us adequate representation in the country," Kimse Okoko, president of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), told AFP in an interview.
Since Ijaws, who number some 12 million, were the source of the country's oil wealth they should have more states, argued Okoko, whose group includes all the Ijaw organisations in the Delta region.
"We started the struggle in 1991 with calls for three core Ijaw states but we got only Bayelsa. We urge the National Assembly to enact a law to create two more states for us," he said.
The group would not continue to accept a situation where "the Ijaws are balkanised in some states in the country."
The number of states in the Nigerian federation is constantly rising. From 1967 to 1976, the country had 12 states. Thirty years later, it has 36.
Apart from Bayelsa, where they are dominant, Ijaws are also found in the other eight oil-producing states.
A swathe of swamps, creeks and rivers the size of Scotland, the Niger Delta provides the bulk of Nigeria's oil but most of its inhabitants get by on less than one dollar a day.
"In the villages, what the people see is oil, but we are as poor as ever. We produce what the nation uses to develop, but we continue to suffer neglect and deprivation. We are appealing to the federal government to allow us to use our resources for our development," he said, berating the government President Umaru Yar'Adua for not doing enough for the region.
But Okoko said the creation of more states alone would not calm the current agitation in the Delta that has reduced Nigeria's daily crude exports by about one quarter since 2006.
"State creation is an interim measure. It will not deter our clamour for total control of our God-given oil resources."
Making the appeal during the Ijaws' national day in Bayelsa's capital Yenagoa, Okoko said Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, who himself originates from Bayelsa, should use his position to promote the idea of creating new Ijaw states.
And he said his group supports militant activities in the region, which has seen a wave of kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities.
"We support and will continue to collaborate with a just and genuine struggle that will facilitate our self-determination and regional autonomy efforts," Okoko said.