N’Delta: Group Urges FG to Accelerate Infrastructure Devt, Declare Emergency on East West Road

*Demands govt publish forensic audit on NDDC

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

A group, the Niger Delta Youths Supreme Governing Council (NDYSGC), has charged the federal government to accelerate development of the region in order to make up for the massive infrastructure deficit in Niger Delta.
The group also called for the declaration of a state of emergency on the East West Road, urging government to complete the project before the end of 2024 even as it urged the newly appointed Minister of Niger Delta Development, Mohammed Momoh, to close the development gap in the region.
The group gave the charge in a statement jointly signed by the President General, Secretary General and Director of Media and Communications, Comrades Douyi Willy, Efemena Umukoro and Nnamdi Ofonye respectively in Abuja.
The statement also demanded for the construction of a Niger Delta inter state rail network to boost economic activities between the component states and also reduce the burden on the dilapidated roads and death traps.
The group while congratulating the minister on his appointment also expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for dousing the tension initially created by the non announcement of a minister for the ministry fuelling “a vexatious news that the ministry had been scrapped,”
The group noted that the ministry of Niger Delta was very key and dear to the Niger Delta people.
The group, therefore, urged the minister to develop an urgent master plan that will restore the hope of the people owing to the long term failures of the past ministers to initiate and complete any signature project.
The youths stressed that it will no longer be business as usual as the people of the region are more aware than ever before and “will no longer look away from the activities of governance and those saddled with the responsibilities of ensuring that they feel the impact of governance”
The statement noted that President Bola Tinubu specifically appointed Abubakar Momoh to man the ministry which oversees the NDDC based on his track record.
The group further emphasised the need for the minister to put his feet down to see that the NDDC rises to its core mandate of not only developing the nine states under its jurisdiction but to also ensure that the lives and livelihood of the citizens are improved.
They suggested that “youth empowerment and capacity building programmes should be continuously implemented by both the ministry and the NDDC”.
On infrastructure, the youths demanded that a state of emergency should be declared on the East West Road which should be completed before the end of 2024 adding that anything short of that will be unacceptable.
The group also demanded for the construction of a Niger Delta inter state rail network that will boost economic activities between the component states and also reduce burden on the roads that have all become dilapidated and death traps.
The statement further read in part: “We are now here assuring the govt and the people that owing to our spread as the coalition body of all ethnic and non ethnic youth groups in the Niger Delta, we will stand as a watch dog monitoring activities of the ministry, NDDC and the contractors as any act of failure or sabotage on the part of any will be vehemently resisted as excuses will no longer be tolerated for failure”.
The group also congratulated other ministers from the Niger Delta region appointed into various ministries and urged them to join hands together with the Minister of Niger Delta Development and attract meaningful developments to the zone.
The group also appealed to President Tinubu to make public the content of the forensic audit report initiated and completed by the Buhari administration that has surprisingly been swept under the carpet.