Chairman of Bonny Local Government Area, David Irimagha has called out the multinationals operating in the area for waging economic war against the community and exacerbating the unemployment crisis in the community.

He said that by deliberately refusing to comply with statutory revenue remittances and agreed employment quota between them and the community the multinationals were deepening the economic woes of the local government and engendering anarchy in the community by increasing the number of unemployed youths in the area.

Irimagha stated this at a tripartite meeting between the local government council, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and the Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre (BIRC) in his office at the Council Secretariat, Bonny on Thursday, May 16, 2019.

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According to statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Williams Ogbah Agwu, the Bonny Number One citizen said that “all these companies coming to do business in Bonny without the knowledge of the traditional institution and government is depriving the kingdom and council its rights in terms of revenue”.

He regretted that with the dwindling federal allocation his administration was having challenges achieving its developmental blueprint for the area.

“These revenues are needed to put the local government in its rightful place. There is a racket in NLNG that has over the years arrogated the powers of the community to themselves and has been sitting tight and have refused to allow things to be done properly”.

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The Chairman advised the NLNG and other multinationals to “clean up their system for a better synergy with the Kingdom employment body, emphasizing that his “administration cannot fold its hands in the face of a deliberate attempt by a cartel in NLNG to deny Bonny people their rights to gainful employment and also revenue to develop the local government”.

Speaking at the meeting attended by the Vice Chairman, Anengi Barasua, Secretary of the Council, Omoni Longjohn, and Irimagha’s Chief of Staff, Uriel John-Jumbo, and BIRC Chairman, Aladiokuma Hart, among others, a representative of NLNG, Michael Igoni regretted the recent seizure of buses belonging to NLNG and those of their contractors.

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Igoni said the company was favourably disposed to an amicable resolution of lingering issues between it and the local government council, and forestalling a reoccurrence.