Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said that the interim reports from the ongoing forensic verification exercise of activities of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, have uncovered over 12,128 abandoned projects in the region.
Senator Akpabio, who noted that the abandoned projects have no specific ownership attached to them, stressed further that the development was against the 9,080 projects listed by the government to be considered in the verification process.
The minister, who made the disclosure during the visit of the United Nations, Deputy Secretary-General, Hajia Amina Mohammed, to him in Abuja, however, sought for the collaboration with United Nations to maintain peace and development in the Niger Delta region, which he said remains the most peaceful region in Nigeria.
“There was no initial coordination. So, as part of its mandate, the Ministry has adopted a programme called ‘Strategic Implementation Work Plan’, SIWP, which will coordinate the activities of development partners and stakeholders to prevent duplication of projects in the region.”
Akpabio, the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, explained that the Ministry is developing a programme “Catch them young” where young people in primary and secondary schools are enlightened on the importance of peace and the dangers of destroying oil installations, which has serious impact on the ecosystem and the nation’s economy.
“In other to address the situation, the present administration decided to set up a forensic auditing process to access and evaluate the achievements that have been made by NDDC in the region since its existence.”
The minister acknowledged that Mohammed was a frontrunner in championing the course of the Niger Delta region and the Ogoni clean-up during her tenure as Minister of Environment.
She commended the efforts of the Federal Government and the Ministry in the way they have handled the Niger Delta affairs as well as move to sanitise the NDDC.
Mohammed laid emphasis on the need to maintain peace and stability in the region, because without peace there cannot be any meaningful development, especially when the aspirations and rights of the people are not recognized.
He added that the Ministry as part of its mandate over the years had provided infrastructure and high impact programmes for youths and women, and the Ministry is willing to collaborate with the UN system in actualising its programmes to improve living standards.
Source: Vanguard
