region.
Ahead of their meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, tomorrow, strong indications emerged, yesterday, that elders, leaders and stakeholders of the Niger Delta Region have rejected the Federal Government’s move to launch a $10 billion (N4 trillion) infrastructural rebirth investment programme in the area.
The multi-trillion naira programme is part of the Short and Medium Term Priorities to Grow Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry (2015 to 2019), tagged the ‘7 BigWins’, a new initiative of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, according to the Vanguard.
Dismissing the proposal as a blackmail since there is no money to fund it, the Niger-Delta leaders said it is imperative to tell President Buhari that they are rejecting the move because it is private sector-driven with the aim of dragging the government into it.
“At the end of the day, other Nigerians will say why complain when you have $10 billion and the money is not there in the first place. If the companies have such money, they should pay the money owed the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, rather than blackmail the region with such money,” they said.
These are part of the issues that would be raised with President Buhari tomorrow. These were also some of the resolutions at the end of a meeting held at the residence of the convener, Chief Edwin Clark at his 43, Haile Selassie Street, Asokoro, Abuja in the wee hours of Saturday.
Clark, a former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South leader, will lead about 46 traditional rulers, elders and leaders drawn from the academia, civil society, freedom fighters and ethnic nationalities of the six South-South states to meet President Buhari tomorrow.
The leaders said it would be blackmail for the people of the Niger Delta as they were not consulted before the decision was taken and announced, adding that the people should have been carried along and their inputs obtained because they know the problems of the region.
The multi-trillion naira programme is part of the Short and Medium Term Priorities to Grow Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry (2015 to 2019), tagged the ‘7 BigWins’, a new initiative of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, according to the Vanguard.
Dismissing the proposal as a blackmail since there is no money to fund it, the Niger-Delta leaders said it is imperative to tell President Buhari that they are rejecting the move because it is private sector-driven with the aim of dragging the government into it.
“At the end of the day, other Nigerians will say why complain when you have $10 billion and the money is not there in the first place. If the companies have such money, they should pay the money owed the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, rather than blackmail the region with such money,” they said.
These are part of the issues that would be raised with President Buhari tomorrow. These were also some of the resolutions at the end of a meeting held at the residence of the convener, Chief Edwin Clark at his 43, Haile Selassie Street, Asokoro, Abuja in the wee hours of Saturday.
Clark, a former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South leader, will lead about 46 traditional rulers, elders and leaders drawn from the academia, civil society, freedom fighters and ethnic nationalities of the six South-South states to meet President Buhari tomorrow.
The leaders said it would be blackmail for the people of the Niger Delta as they were not consulted before the decision was taken and announced, adding that the people should have been carried along and their inputs obtained because they know the problems of the region.
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