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Niger
Delta Ministry: One year later
AFTER the clamour
for a bold initiative to address 50 years of neglect and despoliation in
the Niger Delta, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was persuaded to set up a
dedicated ministry for the Niger Delta. It was thought at the time that
such a ministry would be powerful enough to remedy the crying needs of the
neglected region for infrastructural development and economic empowerment
of her people. There was even a suggestion that the ministry should be located
within the Niger Delta region to give ready access to the people of the
area. More than one year after its creation, for reasons not entirely under
its control, the performance of the new ministry has been lacklustre.
On
September 10, 2008, President Yar'Adua announced the creation of the
Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. He said that the new ministry would have a
Minister in charge of development of Niger Delta area, and a Minister of
State in charge of youth empowerment. The existing Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC) was to become a parastatal under the ministry. Yar'Adua
further explained that the ministry would coordinate efforts to tackle the
challenges of infrastructural development, environment protection and youth
empowerment in the Niger Delta. In December 2008, he appointed Obong Ufot
Ekaette, a seasoned administrator and technocrat, as the substantive
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and Mr. Godswill Orubebe as the Minister of
State.
The
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) treated the
announcement with caution, saying the new ministry could be yet another
avenue for corruption and political favouritism. Other commentators
expressed the fear that far from facilitating change, the new bureaucracy
could well prove to be a buffer in addressing the real issues facing the
Niger Delta people.
The
ministry's early beginnings were inauspicious as the initial staffers were
apparently not provided with office accommodation in Abuja where they
insisted on staying. Eventually, some office accommodation was made
available at the Abuja secretariat. Then the minister discovered that he
had practically no staff to work with. He began head-hunting. A permanent
secretary was assigned to his ministry in February 2009 whilst other key staff
arrived later. The budget for the ministry was a puny N19.5 million - a
sum, hardly enough to pay mobilisation fees for projects inherited by the
new ministry.
Faced
with this predicament, the minister decided to fill his time by embarking
on a protracted meet-the-people tour covering all the nine states in the
Niger Delta. During his visits, he met governors, religious leaders and
youth organisations. In August 2009, the ministry held a job fair in Abuja.
The ministry claimed afterwards that over 11,000 jobs and training offers
were secured during the fair. We hope these are real jobs and not one of
those bogus claims often made by Nigerian leaders in order to look good.
However
for 2010 a more robust allocation of N61 billion has been approved for the ministry.
It now remains to be seen to what use this money will be put. The minister
seems to have in view some big projects such as the 700 kilometre
Calabar-Ondo coastal road, the East West Railway and new towns development
but all these projects are still at exploratory and feasibility study
stages. The youth empowerment envisaged by Yar'Adua has also still not
materialised in the Niger Delta. As a matter of fact, government appeared
overwhelmed when 20,000 former militants emerged from the creeks seeking
rehabilitation.
The
minister has been more than one year in office, but it is arguable whether
any change has occurred in the Niger Delta as a result of the creation of
the ministry. Whatever the reason, the high hopes created at the inception
of this dedicated ministry for the Niger Delta appear not to have been
realised. The region is still in a state of gross neglect, gas is still
being flared, there are few schools and even fewer hospitals. The cost of
living is unacceptably high. Unemployment is rife and the youths are still
restive. If nothing is done, the amnesty programme brokered by President
Yar'Adua could be in danger of unravelling with resumed hostilities.
We call
on the minister to justify the confidence reposed in him by transforming
his ministry into a change agent in the Niger Delta. He can have all the
best plans for the region but if nothing is happening on the ground, his
plans become mere pipe dreams. With improved funding in 2010, the people of
the Niger Delta and indeed all Nigerians expect him to deliver without any
more excuses.
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