Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, emphasised the urgent need for a strategic and collaborative approach between the Federal Government and the Niger Delta states to address the multifaceted challenges confronting the people of the oil-rich region.
Speaking on Monday in Asaba during the opening of the Technical Committee session of the 6th meeting of the National Council on Niger Delta, he highlighted the longstanding environmental, security, and infrastructural challenges plaguing the region.
Governor Oborevwori pointed out that the Niger Delta has been grappling with issues such as gas flaring, illegal oil bunkering, and local crude oil refining, which have resulted in severe environmental pollution and degradation.
He stressed the importance of concerted efforts to tackle these challenges and set the region on a trajectory of sustainable economic growth and development.
The theme of the meeting is “Stimulating Strategies For Economic Growth And Development In The Niger Delta Region”.
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Represented by his Deputy, Sir Monday Onyeme, the governor added that the problems also include oil spillage with its attendant destruction of aquatic and agricultural produce as well as the lacklustre construction of the East-West road.
Others, he continued, are erosion, perennial flooding occasioned by the non-dredging of the River Niger and its distributaries as well as the abandonment of the various seaports in the region leading to loss of economic activities and employment”.
The Governor said: “Therefore, there is the need for strategic and collaborative approaches between the Federal and Sub-national governments in the Niger Delta region to address the hydra-headed challenges facing the people of the oil-rich states of the Niger Delta and put the region on the path of economic growth and development.
“It is my firm belief that this Committee at the end of this meeting, will provide a clear road map that will help the region forge a path towards peace, progress and prosperity in line with the full potentials of the region in terms of her rich human and natural resources”.
In his presentation on the theme of the meeting, the Secretary to Delta State Government, Dr Kingsley Emu took a look at the economic opportunities and challenges as well as potentials abounding in the Niger Delta region in areas like tourism, agriculture, crude oil deposits, gas reserves, ICT and other physical infrastructure developments like the coastal super-highways that is expected to begin in Lagos through the coastal states of the Niger Delta to terminate at Calabar.
On his part, the Director, Public Private Partnership Research Development, Dr. Johnson Oseodion posited that bridging the infrastructural investment gap in Nigeria requires $3 trillion over the next thirty years to build and maintain infrastructure, will require the adoption of the Public Private Partnership, PPP model in energy, transport, agriculture, ICT, water and mining amongst others.
The meeting had in attendance representatives of the nine Niger Delta States, the NDDC, the Niger Delta Ministry and other stakeholders.
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