By Onomiguren Agbamu
Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori on Monday, called for a strategic and collaborative approach between the Federal and the Niger Delta States with a view to addressing the hydra-headed challenges facing the people of the oil-rich states and putting the region on the path of economic growth and development.
Governor Oborevwori, represented by his Deputy, Sir Monday Onyeme made the call while declaring open the Technical Committee session of the 6th meeting of the National Council on Niger Delta holding at Asaba, the state capital
Oborevwori who stated that the meeting with the theme: “Stimulating Strategies For Economic Growth And Development In The Niger Delta Region,” is apt, noted that the Niger Delta Region over the years has been bedeviled by both environmental, security and infrastructural challenges ranging from gas flaring, illegal oil bunkering and local refining of crude leading to environmental pollution and other degradation.
The Governor added that such problem also included oil spillage with its attendant destruction of aquatic and agricultural produce as well as the lackluster construction of the East West road, erosion, perennial flooding caused by the non-dredging of the River Niger and its distributors as well as abandonment of the various seaports in the region leading to loss of economic activities and employment”
The Governor said: ” 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 to bridge the infrastructural investment gap in Nigeria that 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 among 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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