Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, on Tuesday, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for opting to negotiate with the especially the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and suspend military action.
A statement issued by Fayose’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka quoted the governor to have said “the Niger Delta region as at today is still the golden goose laying the golden eggs on which all other regions are surviving and it will be suicidal for military action to be sustained against the militants.”
Fayose had last week advised President Buhari to dialogue with the Niger Delta Militants, saying he was happy that “for the first time, the President took to advice and suspended military actions in the Niger Delta and opted to dialogue with the militants.”
Governor Fayose called on members of the negotiation committee to see the assignment given to them as one that is highly important to the revival of the country’s economy, saying that they should not act in anyway that will suggest that they were not sincere.
He noted that the hardline approach of President Buhari had already cost Nigeria billions of dollars in revenue, adding that; “If our daily crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day had been sustained, Nigeria would have been having savings in the Excess Crude Account by now.
“Crude oil bench mark is $38 per barrel while the oil is now being sold at $50 per barrel, meaning that we would have been having $12 per barrel saved in the Excess Crude Account.”
