PANDEF, HOSTCOM bicker over employment of 10,000 N’Delta youths for pipeline security

Alleged claims by the Host Communities of Nigeria (HOSTCOM) that over 10,000 youths of Niger Delta have been engaged for security surveillance of oil and gas pipelines in the region as promised by the Federal Government has been disputed by Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).

HOSTCOM national chairman, Prince Mike Emuh, was said to have claimed that the Federal Government, in partnership with the group, had screened and engaged 10,000 Niger Delta youths for pipeline surveillance.

But PANDEF, who questioned Emuh’s leadership of HOSTCOM, in a statement released by its coordinating secretary, Dr. Alfred Mulade, dismissed the claim that the Federal Government in partnership with the group had screened and engaged 10,000 Niger Delta youths for pipeline surveillance..

He noted that security surveillance of oil pipelines in the region was part of its 16-point agenda tabled before the Federal Government, but argued that “it is spurious, therefore, that a certain Mike Emuh of HOSTCOM is claiming to have screened and engaged 10,000 youths across the Niger Delta for a programme yet to take off.”

Mulade added that the claim was “dangerous and has the tendency to ignite tension and crisis, especially given the wide interest and expectation among the youths of the oil-producing communities of the region.”

He said, “Since Emuh’s episode began, PANDEF has been inundated with calls and representations from various stakeholders, including the authentic HOSTCOM leadership, of these disturbing activities of Mike Emuh and his co-travellers, and the negative security implications for the region, and the need to nip it in the bud.”

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Meanwhile, HOSTCOM, reacting through its director, Media and Publicity, Prince Monday Whiskey, contended that “Prince Emuh is the authentic national chairman of HOSTCOM and had held two or three meetings with PANDEF, both in Abuja and Kiagbodo country home of Chief Edwin Clark.”

He said, “So, at what point did PANDEF realise that he is not the national chairman of HOSTCOM? PANDEF is misleading people because of the selfishness of few of its leaders. Emuh never claimed to have engaged 10,000 Niger Delta youths.

“It is the Federal Government that said it was going to engage 10,000 youths in pipeline security and HOSTCOM, under the leadership of Emuh, has keyed into it. Some people can continue to act as if leadership of the region is their birthright, but we have moved on to provide better leadership for the region.”

 

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