The Niger Delta Development Monitoring Group (NIDDEMOG) has cautioned Ijaw people against allowing surveillance contracts to distract from their longstanding struggle for resource control, economic justice, and environmental rights.
The group also urged communities across Ijaw land to strengthen local security measures in response to the growing wave of insecurity across the country.
In a statement issued in Yenagoa, the Executive Director of NIDDEMOG, Chief Nengi James-Eriworio, Officer of the Order of Niger,OON, called on community leaders and youths to establish functional vigilante groups to safeguard their communities. He also urged residents to profile strangers living or conducting business in their areas as part of efforts to curb criminal activities.
Nengi James said communities must take greater responsibility for protecting lives and property while working closely with relevant security agencies.
He further called on the Federal Government to establish and deploy Mangrove Forest Guards to secure the vast mangrove forests of the Niger Delta, which he said have increasingly become hideouts for criminal and illegal activities.
According to him, protecting the mangrove ecosystem is critical not only to regional security but also to preserving one of the country's most valuable environmental assets.
The NIDDEMOG Executive Director also urged the Bayelsa State Government to take deliberate steps to protect natural resources along the state's coastline, citing the recent Court of Appeal judgment on inland waterways, which he said strengthened the role of state governments in managing such resources.
Speaking on the Ijaw struggle, Nengi James maintained that the aspirations of the Ijaw people remain rooted in resource control, economic justice, and environmental protection, warning against reducing the struggle to the pursuit of surveillance contracts.
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