US OFFICIALS INSPECT NDDC PROJECTS

A team of US officials yesterday commenced an inspection tour of projects executed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the region.

The visitors led by Mr. Andrew Lawrence Silski, a senior officials in the US Department of State, declined to comment on their mission. However, the Edo State Commissioner in the NDDC, Mr Mathew Iduoriyekemwen, who conducted them round some of the projects in Edo said the American Government wanted to know how the NDDC had performed in the region since its inception because of their contributions in the region.

Iduoriyekemwen said the American team would also visit other states in the region before returning to the United States, saying he believed they embarked on the journey to find out whether their contributions so far to the commission were commensurate with the achievements on ground.

Projects inspected yesterday included the 2.5-kilometre road at Erediauwa Street; six classroom blocks at Ologbosere Primary School; solar powered water borehole project at Amagba, Oredo Local Government Council and the Udogbo water project.

Said Iduoriyekemnwen: “You know that the United States Government has contributed immensely to the growth of the NDDC. They have companies here that pay taxies to the NDDC and you know they have given several grants to the Commission because they have interest in the region.

“So they came for an on-the-spot assessment of projects carried out by the Commission, maybe they came to see whether the projects were real. I am glad that they have seen by themselves what we have been doing and they were quite impressed with our achievements. As a matter of fact, they told me that the wish the other agencies of government will do what we are doing,” he said.

BAYELSANEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM observed that the United States officials wanted to know how these projects would be protected from possible attack by militant youths and criminals. The NDDC boss answered that “we can only guarantee security for any project sited in an area for one year."

SYLVA BLAMES WOES ON PAST GOVERNMENTS

Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State attributed the woes of the region to lack of political will on the part of past administrations in the country.

Represented by his deputy, Mr Peremobowei Ebebi, the governor charged universities across the country to research and proffer solutions to the developmental and environmental challenges of the region.

He decried the politicisation of the development of the region and urged the people of the Niger Delta to fully utilise the opportunities being offered by President Umaru Yar’Adua in developing the region.

Governor Sylva said the state government would graciously incorporate solutions proffered to the problems of the region into its developmental programme to improve the lot of Bayelsans.

In his remarks, chairman of the occasion, Prof. Kimse Okoko, who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the Niger Delta University and President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) said this was the first time the university had organised an international conference, saying it was a demonstration of its readiness to attain the standard of a world class university.

Prof Okoko explained that the search for peace in the region would become a daunting task without solutions to the Niger Delta crisis, noting that justice should be seen and not just talked about. He asked President Yar’Adua to release the withheld NDDC fund just as he released the withheld Lagos State local government fund.

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.

CLO PETITIONS GOV SYLVA OVER NAVAL GUNBOAT DRIVER'S RECKLESSNESS

Following the death of over seven persons in a boat accident which occurred on 4 March, after a naval gun boat overran a ferry passenger boat carrying about 15 persons, the Civil Liberties Organization, Bayelsa State chapter, has petitioned Governor Timipre Sylva over the recklessness of the gunboat driver.

The naval gun boat identified as GB1, driven by an officer with double 200 horse power engine escorting an oil company house boat ran into a 40 horse power engine ferry boat at the Epie Creek/Yenagoa River Junction, killing over seven men and women including children.

It was gathered that those who died included two males, four females and a four-year old girl while a few however survived with serious body injuries as they were heading for Famgbe, a near community over-side Yenagoa, the state capital.

A copy of the petition which was addressed to the state governor and dated 10 March, 2008 was signed by the state chairman, Comrade Vincent Akpatamu and secretary, Comrade Alagoa Morris and made available to BAYELSANEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM

It claimed that its findings showed that the gun boat driver "drove recklessly on that day and at that point in time which resulted in the death and injury of several passengers in the Famgbe-bound ferry boat". It alleged that the intentional running over of a passenger ferry boat by the Nigerian Naval Gunboat was a criminal act that must be punished accordingly.

The CLO insisted that the Naval Authorities must take full responsibility of all burial expenses and compensate bereaved families as well as settle all medical bills of those who survived the incident and presently receiving treatment in hospital. It also maintained that the loss incurred by the boat driver of the ferry boat driver that was hit and sunk by the naval gun boat must be replaced.

It equally advocated that to forestall future occurrences of such dastardly acts, the government should mobilize the marine police and maritime transporters union to erect a sign post directing boat drivers on slow driving at bends in the river and creeks.

And urged Governor Sylva to expedite action to stop the killing of innocent Bayelsans and other citizens of Nigeria, it demanded the punishment of erring military personnel to restore the confidence of the public on law enforcement agents to avert escalation of the crisis..

RIVERS, BAYELSA AT TOP LIST ON HOSTAGE TAKING

Rivers State has emerged tops in a statistics on the infamous act of hostage taking among states of the oil rich Niger Delta as at Thursday, 13 March, 2008 with Bayelsa State occupying a notorious second position.

While Delta and Akwa Ibom States came at a distant third and fourth position respectively, Cross River and Edo States were yet to record any incident of hostage taking that has characterized the region in recent times.

The statistics was obtained by our correspondent from the Niger Delta Development Monitoring and Corporate Watch, a Non-governmental Organization based in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and signed by its Co-ordinator, Comrade Nengi James.

It showed that Rivers State recorded a total of 156 incidents of hostage taking between 1999 and 12 March, 2008, while Bayelsa State followed closely with 147 dastardly cases of the menace from 2003 to December, 2007.

Delta State had a marginal record of 45 incidents between February, 2006 and May 2007 while Akwa Ibom had a dismal record of 15 hostage takings from October 2006 to June, 2007.

According to the statistics, the last incident of hostage taking in Rivers State occurred on 12 March, 2008 near Calabar River area of Port Harcourt when six workers of Julius Berger were kidnapped.

In Bayelsa State, the last case of hostage taking took place in last December during which the 91-year old Pa Zidafamo Thomas, father of the state's Accountant-General was kidnapped at Bolou-Orua community in Sagbama Local Government Area.

Also, Delta State had its last recorded case of hostage taking in May, 2007 when a staff of Nigercat Oil Services Company was kidnapped at Enerhen Junction, Warri while Akwa Ibom had June, 2007 as the last date of kidnapping of seven workers of Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria at Ikot-Abasi.

The spate of kidnapping and hostage taking in the Niger Delta has been on the rise despite the initiative of the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee.

While it is argued in certain quarters that the act of hostage taking was aimed at drawing attention to the long years of neglect of the region, observers have continued to insist that the act has been criminalized to make money from affected authorities, parents and guardians.

Many have also pointed out that to curb the incident of hostage taking, the federal government, and the states and local governments of the Niger Delta must translate speeches into actions of real development of the communities.