We Won’t Allow Scrapping Of Niger Delta Affairs Ministry – Clark

The South-South Leader and Elderstatesman, Chief Edwin Clark has faulted the decision of President Bola Tinubu for scrapping the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, saying the people of the region will not allow that.

Osun Defender reports that the Presidency in a statement released after the Federal Executive meeting on Wednesday announced the restructuring of the Niger Delta Development Ministry to Ministry of Regional Development.

Reacting to the scrapping of the Niger Delta Affairs in Abuja, the Elderstatesman noted that there was no basis for the scrapping of the Ministry.

He also accused the Federal government of plans to use the money from the South-South geo-political zones to develop the various development Commissions from the geo-political zones that have been established.

According to the Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, President Tinubu has no good plans for the people of Niger, just as he said that late President Umaru Yar’Adua created the ministry for the development of the Zone, ensure permanent peace as well as the nip in the bud, cases of pipeline vandalisation.

The Leader of the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF said, “The news came to me as a surprise.There’s no basis for scrapping it now, Yar’Adua had a poised for creating it, to develop the Niger Delta Region and Nigeria, to bring peace to the region.

“What I have noted so far is that there is no basis for scrapping it. Yar’Adua had a clear purpose to address the security situation in the Niger Delta, which led to the creation of the Ministry to focus on the development of that area. We have been working for some time now, managing our commissions.

“It is not about that; it is the administrative structure created by the President. Unfortunately, it was misunderstood by Nigerians due to its complexity.

“Why would you take over a Ministry without any development plans, funding, or concrete actions? Even the East-West Road, which was meant to be under the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, is not being addressed; it has been handed back to the Ministry of Works.

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“What I am saying is that the federal government lacks special arrangements for this region. When I saw that every region was establishing its development centres or Commissions, I anticipated these issues would arise.

“Are there going to be multiple ministries within one region? One would expect that 30 or 40 people would have walked out to share the details.

“I remember during the national conference in 2014, it was decided to increase the revenue allocation to the regions from 13% to 25%. Ultimately, it was settled at 18%, but we disagreed, which led to further discussions about a separate fund to support development post-Boko Haram.