The Lives Of Niger Delta People Are Going Down... The Niger Delta needs a impressive group

Nigeria is empty if there is no love and no friendship among the citizens. Nigeria can never be attractive with a great heart if the virus of dichotomy is not abrogated. Nigeria will never be interesting in so many things of life that very often it just not enough, if she does not stop playing the ostrich with the citizens. Nigeria should have time for her citizens to do everything that she had started. Nigeria should provide active lifestyle, soft and independent. By so doing, Nigeria will be very well-mannered and decent.

The latest disbanding of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by President Umaru Yar'Adua has shown the ostrich-type of interest people have in ending the Niger Delta crises and to seeing for its development, as every politician in the state wants his own candidate to be the MD. The disbanding is showcasing the might of political glance-through in the region, and that has been the problem with the region.

Not even the creation of the ministry for Niger Delta affairs has changed anything in the region or the Niger Delta technical committee, which was set up by Yar'Adua to proffer create-a-center-of-attention to deciding the Niger Delta brouhaha. This is also the bane of the region!

Did Prince Tonye Princewill, leader of the Action Congress (AC) in Rivers State not insist that the Federal Government is unserious with the development of the region? Did Princewill not state this while speaking with a delegation of the national leadership of the Niger Delta Youth Movement, (NDYM), which paid him a visit in his Port Harcourt residence recently?

Hear Princewill: “The Federal Government is not serious with Niger Delta development. The Federal Government is way behind where it should be on the Niger Delta. Ninety-nine percent of the Niger Delta people's lives are going down. No electricity. No industries. There is an increase in rural-urban migration.” Princewill damned the gullible attitude of some youths in the region. In his words: “We are trying to get peoples voices together on the way forward for the region. I am looking for a radical group that is genuinely interested in the development of the region. We need to change the image of our youths. The Niger Delta youth is respected and feared.”

But “Because of the prominent role the NDDC play in the politics of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially the patronage and goodwill that goes with it, political leaders in the region are leaving no stone unturned to see that their candidates secure the vacant seats in the new board,” said an observer. But not to the extreme development of the region?

Princewill continued: “If you can bring yourselves into a formidable group and tell the truth at all times, that will be good. Do not be afraid to confront the government when it derails. Do not compromise. We want a situation where we will aggressively say the truth always. In the Niger Delta, we have an urgent problem and need an urgent rescue. We have a massive task. We are looking for excellence.”

In year 2000, Nigerians wouldn't forget that “desperate to show that he is interested in the development of the Niger Delta region, former President Olusegun Obasanjo established the NDDC via an act of parliament. Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, then a Special Assistant to Obasanjo, was appointed the pioneer chairman of the board, which also had Mr Ndutimi Alaibe as the Executive Director, Finance and Administration. Since inception, the board has had three substantive chairmen in the person of Godwin Omene and Sam Edem, while Dan Abia from Akwa Ibom acted when Edem was removed in 2008. The board also had three substantive Managing Directors with Alaibe being the last to hold the post after he was made the Managing Director from his position of Executive Director.” Yet, there is nothing to show for the region!

Earlier in his speech, Princewill complementarily charged the youth leaders on proletariat development. He tasked them to devise strategies of ensuring actual grassroots participation. He said, “Especially, as it concerns dividends of democracy reaching the grassroots citizens.”

Odimegwu Onwumere is the Founder of Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Oyigbo, Rivers State. 08032552855. [email protected]