The sixth meeting of the National Council of Niger Delta (NCND), recently held in Asaba, the Delta State capital, with the theme:
“Stimulating Strategies for Economic Growth and Development in the Niger Delta Region”, may have come and gone, but not without touching and significantly proffering solution to the social, economic, environmental and infrastructural poverty bedeviling the people and the oil-rich area.

Aside from the disclosure at the event by the Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh, that the Council was working assiduously with other stakeholders to improve on infrastructural and human capital development in the region in line with President Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda, coupled with his assurance that the ministry would work with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to complete all ongoing and abandoned projects across the region, Tinubu reassured the people of his administration’s commitment to a holistic plan for the overall development of the Niger Delta.

At the gathering, the President did not only lace his remarks with practical definition of the region’s problem, the goals to be achieved and the means to achieve them, but also with a plan to connect the poor in the region with good means of livelihood, food, job, security and sustainable infrastructure.

While appealing for patience of the people on the infrastructural deficit in the region, saying his administration would make good his promise, Mr. President, who was represented by the Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, said that the focus of the council was in tandem with his administration’s objectives in the renewed hope agenda.

He said: “It is expected to bring succour to all citizens of Nigeria in these difficult times. The government has developed a holistic plan for the development of the Niger Delta and, indeed, all parts of Nigeria in terms of infrastructure, education, and harnessing the bountiful resources of all parts of our great country.

“This is evident in the Ministerial Performance Bond for Presidential Priorities and Deliverables for 2023 – 2027 which was signed between the Minister of Niger Delta Development and myself, as well as with all members of the Federal Executive Council. (FEC)

“To achieve these development initiatives, my administration deemed it fit to widen the scope of the Ministry of Niger Delta Development which is saddled with the responsibility of formulating and executing plans, programmes and other initiatives for the development of the Niger Delta.

“To this effect, the name of the ministry was changed from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to the Ministry of Niger Delta Development. The expected effect of this is that the ministry will now be responsible for all policies, projects and programmes that are targeted at bringing to fruition the long-envisaged development of the Niger Delta.

“I am pleased to note that the new leadership in the ministry has prioritised the process of harmonising all developmental plans of agencies and development partners operating in the Niger Delta into a single integrated regional development plan as a roadmap to accelerated development of the region.

“It will gladden you to note that my administration has demonstrated interest in repositioning the NDDC to ensure it delivers optimally on its objectives and mandate, and to make its achievements manifest in different sectors of life across the Niger Delta. This is evidenced in the recent inauguration of the new board of the commission.”

Away from Mr. President’s declarations, another key remarks at the event that must not be allowed go with political winds came from the chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum and governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, who among other comments called for ideologically based conversation on the overall development of the region and urged the NDDC to call a meeting of the governors of the nine states of the Niger Delta to discuss the way forward on the Niger Delta development.

Indeed, separate from the awareness that the forum serves as a strategic platform for states in the Niger Delta region to focus on issues and challenges of common interest, create a more dynamic and equitable arrangement for regional prosperity, and deepen our collaboration for using the region’s natural resources for inclusive growth and sustainable development, it will not in any way be adjudged as hasty to characterise the gathering as learning ‘ecosystem’ devised to fashion out how the leadership of the region can ‘work hand in hand with the Federal Government for unprecedented, efficient and transparent development of the Niger Delta region.

Without doubt, for so many years, the Niger Delta, in the opinion of this piece, symbolised a location where communal right to a clean environment and access to clean water supplies was violated, where the oil industry abandoned thousands of polluted sites in the region and a location where past federal administrations employed non-participatory approach to development and consultative approach that stripped the people of the region their sense of ownership over their own issues. Most importantly, previous administrations and other Nigerians from different geo-political zones failed to see the problem of the Niger Delta as a national one and not restricted to the region.

Also, before now, the region was reputed for infrastructural insufficiency and amply considered as a zone where fierce and protracted war raged between ethnic and social forces in Nigeria over the ownership and control of oil resources. And as a direct result, a long dark shadow has been cast on efforts to improve the wellbeing and economic development of the region and its people.

But with the latest promise by President Tinubu that his government has developed a holistic plan for the development of the Niger Delta and, indeed, all parts of Nigeria in terms of infrastructure, education, and harnessing the bountiful resources of all parts of our great country and other calculated development-focused efforts so far put in place by his administration, the Niger Delta people should expect a change in the narrative of their region.

Also working in favour of the Tinubu- led administration is the fact that the Chiedu Ebie-led Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, recently constituted by him, is not left out in this clarion formulation of strategies to achieve sustainable development of the oil-rich region.

For me, it appears certain that the era of waiting and imaginations are over for the good people of the region as they are now in the period of sustainable transformation.

Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Public Policy), Social And Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA).