GOWON BERATE MILITANTS ATTACK JULIUS BERGER

FORMER Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), reviewed, yesterday, the lack of development in the Niger Delta and said but for inconsistency on the part of successive governments, development in the region should, by now, be at par with what obtains in the Middle East.

He spoke as heavily armed gunmen, suspected to be kidnappers, intercepted a vessel and tugboats, belonging to Julius Berger in Rivers State and abducted six crew members. They demanded N20 million ransom.

Also yesterday, a team of US officials commenced an on-the-spot assessment of projects executed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)

General Gowon in a keynote address at an International Conference on the Nigerian State, oil industry and the Niger Delta in Nigeria said if the administrations that came after his own had continued with the foundation he laid between 1966 and 1975 in the region, the current low level of development and the reign of violence it triggered off would not have existed.

His words: “The development in the area has not been given adequate priority. I recall that my administration laid a solid foundation for the oil industry between 1966 and 1975 and the level of development seen in the Middle East is what is expected of the Niger Delta region.”

He blamed the oil industry for not properly managing the problems caused by its operations.

The former Head of State who is also the President of the Yakubu Gowon Centre, proposed policies, rules and regulations that would promote sustainable development as a solution to the region’s problems, stressing that good governance was a major assurance for the effective management of the nation’s resources.