The Pan Niger Delta Forum has urged President Bola Tinubu to keep the Niger Delta Ministry in place.
Just last week, after Mr. President assigned portfolios to ministerial designates, the group expressed disappointment over the lack to choose a minister for the ministry.
After holding an emergency meeting of its National Executive and Board of Trustees in the Abuja home of its national leader, Edwin Clark, the forum made the decision on Friday.
PANDEF reminded President Tinubu that the Niger Delta Ministry was established by the former President Umaru Yar’ Adua to, among other things, concentrate on the infrastructural development of the nation’s oil-producing states in a statement signed by Clark and its National Chairman, Emmanuel Essien.
The meeting examined concerns relating to the current appointment and assignment of Ministers, as it impacts the States of the South-South geopolitical zone and the Niger Delta region, in particular, the omission of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, according to the communiqué.
The gathering “Expresses profound surprise that there is no designation for the current Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in the published assignment of Ministers to their various cabinet portfolios.”
Reminds the President that the Ministry of the Niger Delta was established with the express purpose of ‘focusing on infrastructural development, environmental protection, and youth empowerment in the oil-rich Niger Delta region,’ which continues to be significantly impacted by the oil and gas industry and is still the driving force behind the national economy.
“The Ministry was established by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2008 and maintained by his two immediate successors (Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari) to aid in the advancement of the Niger Delta region’s peace.”
The Forum said that “any erroneous step towards eliminating or drowning the ministry will create an unfavourable climate with detrimental consequences” while urging President Tinubu to rectify the omission immediately.
“We therefore urge the Federal Government not to interfere with any institutions that, together with the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, have served as the region’s flagship institutions for promoting peace and prosperity.
“We are hoping that the Federal Government will get appropriate advice on this topic, even as we emphasise the commitment of the PANDEF leadership and the residents of the region to upholding the reign of peace and stability in the greater good of the nation.”
