The House of Representatives has failed to consider a motion asking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to rescind the decision to change the Ministry of Niger Delta Development to the Ministry for Regional Development.
The House stepped down the motion sponsored by Rep. Oboku Oforji (PDP, Bayelsa) because “it has been overtaken by events.”
Speaker Abbas Tajudeen told the lawmakers that he met with President Tinubu last week and hit assurance that he was favourably disposed to receiving the South-South Development Commission Bill to cater for specific issues of the Niger Delta region.
Given the information and the fact that other events have already overshadowed the motion’s issues, he advised the legislator to allow the House to withdraw the motion.
House Leader, Rep. Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Edo), said even though the issues contained in the motion were germane, the conversion of the Niger Delta Development Ministry to that of the Ministry of Regional Development will not in any way deny the Niger Delta region of its due development nor reduce its impact in the region, but only to broaden its scope to the development of other regions.
While moving the motion, Oforji recalled that the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua established the Ministry of Niger Delta Development on September 10, 2008, appointing Mrs. Ufot Ekaette as the first Minister.
According to him, the ministry was created to promote and coordinate policies for the development, peace, unity, and security of the Niger Delta Region and is expected to formulate and execute plans, programs and other initiatives, as well as coordinate the activities of agencies, communities, donors, and other relevant stakeholders involved in the development of the Niger Delta Region.
He said Yar’Adua had noble intention and foresight for creating the ministry as a way to ameliorate the suffering, agitations, and neglect of the region for decades by successive governments.
According to him, the region produces the wealth of the country and “yet is poor and poorly governed.”
He said years of oil spillage, lack of arable land, and social amenities had necessitated the emergence of militancy in the oil-rich region.
He said: “It was in the short term of late President Yar’Adua’s leadership from Katsina State that dialogue was initiated with major stakeholders in the region and militants culminating in the Amnesty Program that has brought relative peace to the oil-rich Niger Delta Region.
“These were preludes to the creation of the ministry, which was aimed at infrastructural development, environmental protection, and empowerment of the youths in the oil rich Niger Delta Region.
“Are we there yet? The answer is no, but the people of the Niger Delta believe that the lofty dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the region will be actualized someday, hence their embrace of the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta Development.”
He said the region was shocked following the announcement of the scrapping of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“This is not a good omen for a region that has contributed immensely to the economic development of our country and has enjoyed some relative peace.”
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