The Senate President Godswill Akpabio has denied ever saying he and others will be eating while the #EndBadGovernance protesters will be protesting, even as he stated that it was uncharitable for media houses to amplify such statement to bring him in conflict with the Nigerian masses.
Akpabio maintained that he was only quoting the MD of the NDDC who said the Niger Delta youths who have never had it so good with himself and the Amnesty boss on the saddle that it was a government of the youths who will not be interested in regime change rather will own the government and will not protest but rather be eating.
The import of Akpabio’s visit was a declaration that the nine states of the Niger Delta will not be involved in any protest, being the most senior government official from that South-South region even as he feels their pain.
Speaking at the NDDC sponsored youth stakeholders summit in Port harcourt on Tuesday, Akpabio stated that similar protest almost led to anarchy in Kenya and the negative effects was still reverberating.
He said while the degradation of environment in the Niger Delta due to oil exploration and exploitation persist, there have been no protest. The fact that the government was doing so much to address the situation at hand like the minimum wage bill that was recently passed into law, showed that, “We are ameliorating the pains and hardship being experienced.”
Akpabio urged the people of the Niger Delta region to exercise patience with the administration of Bola Tinubu while adding that one year was not enough to judge the performance of the administration
On his part, Consultant on Communications and Strategy in the Office of the Senate President, Kenny Okolugbo, said the youths were filled with so much joy and excitement and passed a vote of no protest and confidence on the Senate President Akpabio at the occasion.
He, however, commended the Senate President while he noted that the empowerment scheme was for those not gainfully employed and it was reiterated that it will be devoid of politics and strictly for the nine states of the Niger Delta including all the local government areas and wards in the oil-producing States.