The leaders of Host Communities of Nigeria (HOSCON) have chosen HRM, Diete Spiff and Prince Dr. Mike Emuh as their official representatives to interface with the federal government in the quest for the implementation of the Gas flare tax.
This was the outcome of the group’s national conference held on November 27, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the conference, the Chairman of the occasion, Chief Jasper Jumbo, stated that the decision of the group was borne out of genuine interest of King Spiff and his team to ensure that what is due for the people of the region is given to them.
Chief Jumbo urged the federal government to work with King Spiff and his team as the authentic representatives of the community.
He noted that the antecedents of King D. Spiff and Dr. Emuh since the agitation of the Niger Delta has left no one in doubt of their ability and vision, adding that they need every encouragement to conclude the agenda for the people.
He used the opportunity to re-assure the concerned state governments that their meeting was not to fight any state government, rather as a people they are asking for the Gas flare tax remediation of their negatively impacted communities and for empowerment of the youths.
HRM, Monday Obukowho Whiskey (Odurhe 1) of the Idjerhe Kingdom in his speech said in spite of all the divisive tendencies of a few individuals in the South-South region, HOSCON is still waxing strong and ever ready to fight for the benefit of the people.
He made it clear that the 13% derivation stands on its own, but because of the health hazard of continued gas flaring on the people, the gas flare tax has becomes necessary.
Dr. Mike Emuh in his response, thanked the people for the opportunity given to them to serve and assured that HOSCON would do all they could to ensure they lay a strong foundation for the future generation, and also appreciated the youths of the Niger Delta for the prevailing peace being enjoyed in the past few years.
He urged everyone to support President Buhari on his innovation of diversification from oil and gas to agriculture, saying they discovered that out of the 6 geo-political zones in Nigeria, four zones are well financed in terms of agriculture whereas South-South and the South-East were left behind due to bad representation, and that because of the HOSCON agricultural team, the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has agreed that agricultural money be given to the host communities to go into mechanized farming in the Niger Delta region.
