By Cosmas Nkeremwem
The Nigerian Guild of Editors has expressed worry over the threat by the Niger Delta Avengers to resume attacks on oil facilities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region and called for dialogue between the Federal Government and stakeholders in the region to resolve outstanding issues.
In a statement signed by Mrs Funke Egbemode, President and Mrs Victoria Ibanga, General Secretary, after its Standing Committee Meeting in Katsina, the group said “that renewed hostilities in the Niger Delta will reduce Nigeria’s daily oil output, which will in turn deny the country the benefits of the current marginal increase in the price of crude,” adding that,”anything that’s capable of returning Nigeria to economic recession should be avoided.”
It appealed to traditional rulers in the region to use their offices and goodwill to call the Avengers and any other militant group in the region to order.
Similarly, The Guild frowned at the increasing crime rate in the country, especially kidnappings and communal clashes and called on security agencies to rise to the occasion, noting that, “the widening spread and growing frequency of kidnappings and allied criminal acts do not only threaten the nation’s socio-political stability, they also rob Nigeria of income as potential investors are scared of coming into the country while in some instances, existing investors are being forced to leave the country.”
On the 2018 budget proposal currently before the National Assembly, the group expressed concerned about the size of the recurrent as against the capital expenditures and urged the authorities to be embrace prudenct and innovative budgeting in order to achieve a reversal in the nearest future.
