Vice President of Nigeria accuses the Niger delta avengers of fighting for their selfish interest

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has declared that the militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, did not fight for the freedom of the region but, saying they only fight for their own selfish interest.

He also said the economic challenges currently facing the country were caused by the activities of the militants at the Niger Delta region of the country.

The Vice President stated this on Friday at the Second Foundation’s Day Lecture of the Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Ondo State where he delivered a lecture titled : ‘ The Future: Here Earlier Than We Thought.’

He said, “The Niger Delta Avengers are not freedom fighters, they are not fighting for any freedom, they only fight for their pockets. You can’t be blowing up pipelines and compound the problem of the region and be saying you are fighting for freedom.

“It is not acceptable for anybody under any guise to be vandalising and say they are avenging, that is not acceptable.”

The guest lecturer also attributed the problem facing the power sector in the country and the inability of many state governments to pay salaries of workers to the activities of the militants, which had caused reduction in the country’s revenue from oil.

He maintained that the revenue coming from the oil sector had drastically dwindled due to the blowing up of oil pipelines.

He however said the present administration was making frantic efforts to diversify the economic, adding that efforts were ongoing to develop the private sector.