Irabor pledges to make Niger Delta region preferred investment destination

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor, has stressed the need to sustain the peace in the Niger Delta region and assured of boosting security and creating an enabling environment to make the region a preferred destination for investors.

He urged ex-agitators to shun incessant protests in the interest of the region’s development and economic growth, insisting that such violent attitude was capable of doing permanent harm to the Niger Delta, adding: “Oil might finish, but the effect of damage will remain in the region.

He, however, commended the leadership of the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd.) saying he hds made the job of security agencies in the Niger Delta easier.

In a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Neotaobase Egbe, affirmed that Irabor spoke when Dikio led officials of PAP to visit him (Irabor) in Abuja.

Irabor asked Dikio to establish partnership with the navy to enable the amnesty office to take advantage of some of the naval training facilities in his drive to add greater value to the Niger Delta region.

He said he believed in value addition, which he observed the amnesty boss brought to table in discharging the functions of his office.

Speaking, Dikio said his plans for the ex-agitators and the strategies he adopted to actualise the mandate of the amnesty programme, was yielding positive results, adding that his mission was to maintain stability in the region through constant engagement of all stakeholders and prompt payment of stipends to ex-agitators.

He told the CDS that his back-to-the region tour had enabled the amnesty office to understand the challenges and fears of the ex-agitators.

He said he was preoccupied with helping the ex-agitators to embrace entrepreneurship, become employers of labour and live above the fixated mentality of N65, 000 monthly stipend.

Dikio further bemoaned the habit of blocking major roads in the region for protests at slightest provocation saying the trend was negatively impacting on businesses.

He said part of his mission was to change people’s negative perception about Niger Delta to give room for businesses and wealth creation, but lamented that constant protests was portraying the region negatively.