The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to rescind the decision to scrap the Niger Delta Ministry describing it as unacceptable.
The IYC said instead of tampering with the existing agencies, more interventionist agencies should be created to tackle the development of the region and its peculiar needs and challenges.
In a statement signed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday by its Secretary-General, Maobuye Nangi Obu, IYC said even if the ministry’s functions were found to be overlapping with other existing agencies, the Federal Government should have reformed and refocused the ministry to tackle specific challenges in the region instead of scrapping it.
According to Obu, there is no justification whatsoever to scrap any existing structure designed for Niger Delta development. He said if any interventionist structure is found wanting, the federal government should reform and refocus it to tackle specific needs of the region.
“Our region has always been in a disadvantaged position being the area with the most difficult terrain that has been consistently vandalized and messed up through oil exploitation and exploration to provide resources and revenue used to develop other regions.
“Therefore, the Niger Delta must be treated as a special territory that demands multiplicity of special interventions from the Federal Government. We expect President Tinubu, who understands our challenges, to know better than endorsing the scrapping of the Niger Delta Ministry.
“We expect President Tinubu to create more interventionist programmes, projects and ministries to solve myriads of problems facing the Niger Delta and hinder its development. The IYC is not happy that the President has done otherwise and we are urging him to bring back the ministry and saddle it with a special assignment”, the IYC scribe demanded.
He also said the IYC had observed a worrying trend of desperation to either strip the Niger Delta of its special status or bring other regions, which have no special needs at par with the region.
According to him, it was disturbing why all of a sudden the National Assembly and the Presidency had created development agencies in the mode of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for other regions.
Nonetheless, Obu commended the Senate and some senators from the Niger Delta especially former Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Seriake Dickson for pushing for the creation of the South-South Development Commission distinct from the NDDC.
He called on President Tinubu to swiftly sign the bill into law to close the looming developmental gap and marginalization occasioned by the creation of similar commissions in other regions.
