By Jacinta Nwachukwu
Niger Delta region of Nigeria comprises nine states – Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers with about 31 million people.
Over the years, militancy has been synonymous with the region known for its vast oil and gas reserves with several militant groups and ethnic nationals agitating for the restoration of the environment degraded by exploration and seeking more developments in the region.
President Bola Tinubu, on assumption of office, has shown significant commitment to the region by pledging unwavering support and assistance to ensure successful execution of projects that would bring sustainable growth and improvement in Niger Delta.
While acknowledging the critical role Niger Delta plays in the nation’s economy, the president during a crucial meeting with the Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh, reassured the people of his administration’s commitment to a holistic plan for the overall development of the region.
This underscored the reason for the recent meeting of the National Council of Niger Delta (NCND), held in Asaba, to deliberate and proffer solutions to the social, economic, environmental and infrastructural decay bedeviling the people and the region.
Speaking at the meeting, Momoh highlighted the vital projects and initiatives of the Federal Government to uplift the socio economic landscape of the region.
He said the Ministry was working assiduously with other stakeholders to improve on infrastructure and human capital development in the region in line with Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“The Ministry is poised to leverage this commitment from president Tinubu to further advance its mission of fostering holistic development, infrastructure enhancement, and community empowerment in the Niger Delta region.
“It will work with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to complete all ongoing and abandoned projects across the region,” the minister stated.
He also presented a detailed overview of ongoing infrastructure projects, community development programmes, among other initiatives to address environmental concerns in the Niger Delta.
Affirming the Minister’s assertions, the Managing Director, NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, said that one of the cardinal policies of the Tinubu administration was stakeholders’ engagement.
Ogbuku said the Commission would soon be inaugurating 92 infrastructure projects executed at a cost of N84 billion across the nine states in the region.
He also said that the Commission carried out massive electrification of rural communities through the “Light up the Niger Delta’’ project.
He said this “Light up the Niger Delta” project had reduced criminality in the various communities and enhanced commercial activities in the areas.
He explained that the Commission decided to adopt the clean energy approach which not only provided light but helped in the fight to mitigate the effects of climate change on the environment.
Ogbuku further said that the Commission was making progress with its youth development and empowerment scheme, known as Holistic Opportunities, Projects and Engagement (HOPE), aimed at building a comprehensive database of the youth population of the Niger Delta.
He, then, called on the youths of Niger Delta region to ensure that they were registered on the website of Project HOPE, saying that the project would benefit all Niger Delta youths.
“We have also inaugurated the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture, (NDCCITMA), which along with the Bank of Industry will serve as a platform for supporting young entrepreneurs in the region on a sustainable basis,’’ he said.
Speaking further on other programmes of the Commission, Ogbuku said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had agreed to partner with NDDC to implement a Health Insurance Project, as well as other health programmes that would benefit the people of the region.
He also stated that the Commission and the Industrial Training Fund, (ITF), had commenced collaboration to actualise the Skill-Up Artisans, (SUPA), a transformative initiative of the Federal Government for the youths of the Niger Delta region.
He said the Commission was eager to serve as an enabler in achieving the goals of the federal government in this regard.
He said that sequel to the SUPA initiative to send 14,000 work-forces of skilled artisans to the United Arab Emirates on manpower/skill labour export arrangement through the ITF, the Commission would partner with the Fund to ensure that Niger Delta artisans would benefit from the scheme.
According to him, the Skill up Artisan programme being part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President is aimed at creating availability of skilled workforce for domestic and international export; boosting the economy through gainful employment and increasing diaspora remittances as a result of international manpower and skilled labour exports.
“Engaging the youths meaningfully will help to reduce crime in the Niger Delta region. We are going to use the ITF platform to up the skills of the artisans and youths of the Niger Delta region.
“We have set up a committee to work out the details of the collaboration with ITF. We are also in partnership with the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture, which has been registered and inaugurated.
‘’Any issue on oil theft the government will be able to know who to hold accountable.
“As we speak, the last report I got from the NNPC is that oil output is about 1.7million barrels per day, this is something that we had over 2million barrels previously.
On the issue of security, former Special Assistant/Head of Media, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr Murphy Ganagana, noted that significant factors that led to agitations in the region must be appropriately addressed to sustain lasting peace.
“If you looked at the Niger Delta, what gave birth to the Amnesty Programme was a situation of violence, protest of dissatisfaction by the people, who felt they have been marginalized.
“Again one of the major plans of the Amnesty programme was infrastructure development; unfortunately that key aspect of the programme has not been looked into by any administration.
“For instance when you talk about infrastructure development, there is nowhere you will see any infrastructure apart from the cities in the Niger Delta states capitals, many areas are still deprived, no quality healthcare, education among others.
“We need industries to take those armed youths away from the streets; we need good educational institutions for their development to make them functional and self-reliant in the society,’’ Ganagana reiterated.
He said for the government to succeed in these areas of concern, the oil host communities should be involved in any of the government projects in the region.
Similarly, to sustain peace in the region, the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), the Ministry of Niger Delta Development (MNDD) and other stakeholders in the region had validated the Niger Delta Regional Peace building Strategy (NDRPS).
The Executive Director, PIND, Tunji Idowu, said at the validation workshop, recently, that the document, co-designed by PIND and the MNDD, would provide the framework for the implementation of a regional peace building apparatus in the Niger Delta.
According to him, this apparatus will apply a multi stakeholder approach, where all stakeholders focusing on peace building, conflict management and resolution in the Niger Delta will join resources to ensure the effective prevention, management, and resolution of conflicts in the region.
“The development of the NDRPS was based on a presidential directive to the MNDD in 2021 to guarantee an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence and sustainable development in the Niger Delta, Idowu explained.
He also noted that the validated NDRPS document had passed through due process and was very participatory.(NANfeatures)
