Nigeria announces measures to tackle Niger Delta crisis

In a major intervention by the Federal Government, akin to the American Marshall Plan for Europe after the Second World War, President Olusegun Obasanjo announced several measures to tackle the Niger Delta crisis.
Although Obasanjo put no figure to the total cost of the programmes which would come in three phases, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Mr Funsho Kupolokun, confirmed that the oil industry would be committing about N 20 tn to the development of the region.

According to Obasanjo, the federal government will create about 20,000 new jobs that will absorb indigenes of the region as one of the short-term measures to urgently address the social and economic problems in the restive oil-rich coaster states.
He also pledged to flag off the N 230 bn long-abandoned East-West road that cuts across major states in the region in May, just as he unfolded other proactive steps spanning nine major areas like employment generation, transportation, education, health, telecommunications, environment, agriculture, power and water resources.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Consolidated Council on Social and Economic Development of Coaster States of the Niger Delta, at the Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja, he explained that medium term measures put in place would be implemented within a two-year time frame; medium term within two and five years while the long term measures would take five years and beyond to be executed.
Under the job creation initiative, the President said the three services of the Armed Forces had been mandated to recruit 1,000 indigenes of the area, beginning from in May, with the Nigerian Army absorbing 500 men and women from the Niger Delta into the service.

Of the figure, Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta States are to be given 100 slots each and Ondo, 50 while Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Edo States are to get 25 slots each besides another 50 recruits categorised as "tactical reserve". Both the Nigerian Air Force and Nigerian Navy are to recruit 250 persons each with Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta States contributing 50 slots each, Ondo and Akwa Ibom States 30 while Cross Rivers and Edo States each will enjoy 20 slots.
The allocation formula applies to the two services.

Obasanjo, who announced the immediate lifting of embargo on police recruitment, directed that 10,000 new recruits be engaged with 1,500 positions each allotted to Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta States while Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Abia States each has 1,000 slots.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), he added, would create 1,000 new positions to be filled by qualified applicants from seven of the nine coaster states, besides the recruitment of 7,300 National Certificate of Education (NCE) and university graduate teachers before the end of the year.

Summing the total as about 20,000 new openings in the federal public service, Obasanjo further stated that government would soon commence the dredging of the river Niger as part of measures to facilitate easy transportation of people and goods in the area, adding that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) and state governments in the area were to collaborate on the opening of creeks and water channels to create more routes for inland water transportation.
He also said that government was planning to mechanically clear seaweed in addition to a regional programme that would lead to cooperation with neighbouring countries that the nation share water borders with.

On education, he said the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Warri would be upgraded to a degree-awarding institution with officers already appointed to actualise the plan, beside the setting aside of a temporary site for the take-off of a federal polytechnic in Bayelsa State by September. The Education Tax Fund (ETF), he stressed, has also been directed to assess what needed to be done at a community school in Okerenku, Delta State.
In the area of health, Obasanjo said the Rivers State government had agreed to complete the abandoned Auto Destruct Syringes factory to create more jobs and boost healthcare delivery, besides plan to establish primary healthcare centres in each of the local governments in the region.

On telecommunications, he said government was going to meet with the Global System of Mobile (GSM) telecommunications providers to extend coverage to major towns and communities just as he announced the empowerment of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to eliminate water pollution.
The President also said the refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Eleme would be cleaned and that 59 communities within five to six radius in the ongoing seven power plants would be electrified under a rural electrification programme that would benefit 396 communities.

Water provision, the President explained, would be carried out in 120 communities in Cross River, 142 in Delta, 190 in Rivers, 113 in Edo and 138 in Ondo States even as he said that an officer would be appointed in the office of the Secretary to theGovernment of the Federation to coordinate the various intervention programmes by all the tiers as well as oil companies and development partners.
Under the programme, the development institutions including the federal government, state and local governments, oil companies, NDDC and other such institutions are to outline specific development projects to accelerate transformation of the area.

In his presentation, Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, commended the federal government for the east-west Link Road while stating that his administration was complementing the effort. The bridge, he noted, had given the NDDC the opportunity to construct more roads in Delta State, stressing that at the end of the bridge, the state would build a road going to Opkokuru, the intention of which is to get to Forcados as well as others.
On cassava and rubber, he said they would be revived as the main stay of the economy of the state, but Obasanjo disagreed with him in some areas, advising that the state should play its own part.
"Take your own, do your own and let me take my own. Let me have it in writing so that we would follow up on the implementation," he said.

On his part, Governor Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State said areas of focus include education, health, roads, dredging and sand filling, water supply, electrification, jetties and empowerment programmes. He said the programmes were of short medium implementable between 2005 to 2006, medium term, 2007 to 2009 and then the long term which would go beyond 2009.
The governor pleaded with the president to remain hard on the issue of coordination of the development projects, and Obasanjo promptly assured that this would be done.

Minister of Transport, Dr Abiye Sekibo, revealed that there were 57 communities between Lokoja and Escravos bifurcation that would benefit from the dredging of the River Niger, saying the president had already directed that every community should have shore protection and jetties.
Rivers State Governor, Dr Peter Odili, commended the president for his "great show of commitment and political will”.
"We have gone through the records. No Nigerian leader has shown greater commitment to the issue of the Niger Delta than you."

On the issue of petrol stations in the Niger Delta, Obasanjo added that 12 mega stations were to be built in the region while Odili urged him to put the stations in the immediate plan.
Minister of State for, Petroleum Resources, Dr Edmond Daukoru, stated that NNPC and its joint venture partners would commit N 12 bn as part of short term programme out of which N 8.4 bn would be spent on building new float stations. He noted that one has been rolled out in Leki while six others would be completed between now and August, in addition to another five to be completed by next year.

Other projects include 6,000 student scholarships, training of 20,000 welders to be undertaken by NNPC and PTDF, production of bio eternal, while NNPC has targeted 5,000 hectares of land for cultivation in addition to health projects. Also on the card are NNPC to sink three water boreholes in each of the coastal states and procurement of mosquito treated nets.
Governor Lucky Igbinedion of Edo state said "we have passed the list of what we would do to the SGF based on short term, medium and long term. Many schools have been built, we have done rural electrification. Edo is the poorest of the Niger Delta states. Edo state has set up a cassava processing plant at Uromi. We need microcredit loans at single digit interest and expansion of primary healthcare."

His Bayelsa state counterpart, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, explained that safe water was very important to the area as well as employment.
Group Managing Director of NNPC, Kupolokun, said, "We have agreed to upgrade our budget for community development by 30 % and all the companies are involved. We will in totality in the short and medium terms be spending N 20 tn, involving all oil companies."