The Acting Managing Director of the
Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, has identified
poor implementation of existing plans for the Niger Delta region as the bane of
economic development and regional integration in the South-South and
South-East.
Speaking at the 2nd
South-East, South-South Development Forum, held at the Presidential Hotel, Port
Harcourt, the NDDC Chief Executive Officer insisted that the major problem of
the region was not lack of plans but the non-implementation of existing ones.
Mrs. Semenitari gave an example with
the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan which had not been fully
embraced by critical stakeholders. She stressed the need for a more engaging
and robust cooperation and collaboration among all stakeholders, from
communities to the civil society organizations, from companies and agencies
operating in the Niger Delta to governments at all levels.
The NDDC boss said: “For us to
succeed as one force unified against regional poverty, against infrastructural
gaps and all the indices of adverse development, it is important for us to
unite under one unimpeachable vision. The Niger Delta Regional Development
Master Plan, which the NDDC facilitated, provides such a platform, a worthy
pathway and roadmap to sustainable development. It is important that all of us
work together to return that plan to its place of pride as the central document
to drive development in the region.”
Mrs. Semenitari explained that the
Master Plan was the aggregate of the collective yearnings and expectations of
the entire Niger Delta. “It was developed by a coalition of all relevant
stakeholders in the region, working with local, national and international
agencies, collating data from every community of the Niger Delta, on every
sphere of human activity. It took from frameworks and established action plans
from all over the world, built them around our own realities, and made them
homegrown and peculiarly Niger Deltan.”
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer
said that there was need to find a lasting solution to the prolonged inactivity
in Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar ports, noting that they were strategically
located for the operations of those doing business in the South-South and South
East zones, which had great potentials for economic boom to create a
sustainable livelihood for the people of the region.
The President of the South-East, South-South Professionals
of Nigeria, SESSPN, Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Ojo, called for regional integration and
economic development to make the region a global investment destination.
He stated that the aim of the
association was to transform the region economically by attracting investors.
“The advantage of this investment strategy is immense and is certainly the most
practical approach to jump-starting the long overdue economic revolution of the
region,” he said.
He, however, called for strong
political will from decision makers in the country. According to him, ‘for this
vision to be realised, it requires a strong political will and leadership from
our political leaders, partisanship has to take back seat to common interest of
the region to enable adoption and faithful implementation of the elements of
the plan that require public sector actions and commitment.”
The Chairman of the organising
committee of the programme, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, urged all stakeholders to
project a new roadmap for the regional integration and economic development of
the region. He said: “What the situation demands is our mutual co-operation to
fully unleash our potentials, human and material-wise on the world stage
through a new framework of an integrated economy.”
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