President Tinubu in a recent turn of events scrapped the Niger Delta Ministry and the Ministry of Sports Development.
He said a Ministry of Regional Development would oversee all the regional development commissions, such as the Niger Delta Development Commission, North West Development Commission, South West Development Commission, and North East Development Commission.
The National Sports Commission will take over the role of the Ministry of Sports.
However, the leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) Edwin Clark has spoken up against scrapping of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs by the President saying the government wants the South-South money to develop other Development Commissions.
Clark said: “What I have noted so far is that there is no basis for scrapping it. Yar’Adua had a clear purpose to address the security situation in the Niger Delta, which led to the creation of the Ministry to focus on the development of that area. We have been working for some time now, managing our commissions.”
He went further to say no concrete plans has been made before this decision was taken: Why would you take over a Ministry without any development plans, funding, or concrete actions? Even the East-West Road, which was meant to be under the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, is not being addressed; it has been handed back to the Ministry of Works.
What I am saying is that the federal government lacks special arrangements for this region. When I saw that every region was establishing its development centres or Commissions, I anticipated these issues would arise.
“Are there going to be multiple ministries within one region? One would expect that 30 or 40 people would have walked out to share the details.
Edwin Clark noted that the government is not going by the agreements reached at the 2014 National Conference “I remember during the national conference in 2014, it was decided to increase the revenue allocation to the regions from 13% to 25%. Ultimately, it was settled at 18%, but we disagreed, which led to further discussions about a separate fund to support development post-Boko Haram.
There was also an agreement that 5% of the federation account would be allocated annually to support regions affected by the conflict. Unfortunately, this has not been implemented.
We also agreed that 5% of the revenue account should be dedicated to developing mineral resources and other industries to enhance local capacity. I was pleased with these discussions, but they haven’t translated into action, which is disturbing.”
Edwin Clark urged the government to consult with the leaders of the Niger Delta and the South-South region, saying these unresolved issues cannot be overlooked by the government.
