We refer to the alleged incompetence and complacency of the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, by the Niger Delta Youth Governance Monitoring Group (NDYGMG) and aver as follows;
1. The group has made a false claim to allege that the council was not able to form a quorum to enable it formulate a policy direction to drive the ministry. Council had no quorum challenges. Moreover, the group is in no position to assess the performance of the Ministry in regards to the efficiency of the Council because it is not a member of council, neither was it present during Council proceedings. It is better it makes enquiries from us in this regard than make unverified claims.
2. NDYGMG is ignorant of the attendance of the National Council as all council members (or their representatives) were not only present, but actively participated in the proceedings. The Council considered 60 (sixty) memos that were submitted and certified 40 (forty) for considerations. Moreover, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, was present at the Council; not only that, he declared it open. How many national councils have the rare privilege of hosting the Vice President of the country? These are marks of a successful Council.
3. The group has poor knowledge of the Honourable Minister’s relationship with relevant stakeholders in the region, as the Minister meets with them regularly to compare notes on development activities and implementation of government policies in the region.
4. All statutory members of the Council were all invited.
5. The group is unaware that the Honourable Minister is popular only among those who sincerely seek the good and advancement of the region without selfish gains and has received several commendations on this score.
6. The group’s allegation that the Honourable Minister deliberately excluded the youth from the Council, is a false claim because there is already an existing council membership upon which the first council’s membership was premised. That is what was used to determine the membership of the just concluded 2nd National Council. Hinging their claims on their inaccessibility to the council deliberations amounts to abuse of set rules and insensitivity to order. A council membership is not open-ended. The Ministry granted the youth groups “observer” status, which shows good gesture.
7. The group, certainly seeks something other than the actual good of the region because the achievements of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs under the leadership of Pastor Usani Uguru Usani and Professor Claudius Daramola have put the region on a veritable path for TRUE development. Especially for superintending over a Ministerial Technical Audit of all the 427 projects of the Ministry, to ascertain the actual status of every single project embarked upon by the Ministry from inception till date, and even a continuous verification of all Ministry projects. This action engenders accountability, transparency and probity of governance in the region.
4. All statutory members of the Council were all invited.
5. The group is unaware that the Honourable Minister is popular only among those who sincerely seek the good and advancement of the region without selfish gains and has received several commendations on this score.
6. The group’s allegation that the Honourable Minister deliberately excluded the youth from the Council, is a false claim because there is already an existing council membership upon which the first council’s membership was premised. That is what was used to determine the membership of the just concluded 2nd National Council. Hinging their claims on their inaccessibility to the council deliberations amounts to abuse of set rules and insensitivity to order. A council membership is not open-ended. The Ministry granted the youth groups “observer” status, which shows good gesture.
7. The group, certainly seeks something other than the actual good of the region because the achievements of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs under the leadership of Pastor Usani Uguru Usani and Professor Claudius Daramola have put the region on a veritable path for TRUE development. Especially for superintending over a Ministerial Technical Audit of all the 427 projects of the Ministry, to ascertain the actual status of every single project embarked upon by the Ministry from inception till date, and even a continuous verification of all Ministry projects. This action engenders accountability, transparency and probity of governance in the region.
8. Ironically, one of the sterling achievements of the Honourable Minister, especially in recent times, is the fact that he has negotiated for the sum of €5M (Five Million Euros) for the development of two (2) Skills Acquisition Centers in the region, solely to develop youth capacity in agriculture, industry and science and technology. Under Usani Uguru Usani, the capacity of over 1,200 youths have been impacted in ICT and Agriculture; trained another 214 women and youths with start-up capital of N500,000 each; trained 130 young people in poultry and aquaculture with start-up capital of N1M each with insurance cover provision; trained 198 young women in fish and poultry production; it has collaborated with the coalition of South-South Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Mines and Agriculture to warehouse and enhance the empowerment of the youths in the region, so as to boost Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; and several other youth programmes are under implementation stages. In our candid judgement, this is not a “clear display of incompetence” as the group claims.
9. It will excite us to educate the group that the Ministry under Pastor Usani Uguru Usani has not jettisoned the Niger Delta Action Plan nor the Niger Delta Master Plan, as it alleges. Rather, the Ministry has designed a Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP), which is a vehicle that unites efforts of all government agencies that are saddled with development efforts in the region. The aim of SIWP is to; a. Provide a common framework for actualising concerted development plans in the region; b. Provide a joint accountability framework for monitoring and evaluation of development projects in the region; c. Provide a unified strategic response based on a shared vision for development action by the agencies driving development in the region; and d. To offer a set commitment to the region as a development compact.
The SIWP focuses on the strategic objectives raised in the Federal Government’s 20-Point Agenda, as the administration drives the Niger Delta New Vision. These strategic objectives have been streamlined into the following 13 areas, under which projects proposals have already been organised into the following areas: a. Core Business Focus in the Petroleum Industry; b. Jobs Creation: Target 100,000 Jobs across each State over the next 5 years; c. Focused Investments in Gas to Power; d. Incentive for Peace Investment Scheme; e. Massive Civil Infrastructure Initiatives; f. Environmental Remediation and Clean-Up; g. Domesticate Oil Business Opportunities; h. Niger Delta Development Fund Initiative; i. Militancy to Education (MTE) Initiative; j. State Amnesty Programmes; k. Youth Business and Chamber of Commerce Initiative; l. Federal Government Partnership with States; m. Policing for Peace – Community-based Policing.
This approach has been developed in recognition that the Niger Delta region does not need another high-level development strategy document like the Niger Delta Master Plan and the Niger Delta Action Plan. Hence, the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP) does NOT replace nor substitute the Niger Delta Action Plan of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) and/or the Niger Delta Master Plan of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), but coordinates the implementation of these two plans, vis-à-vis government’s efforts in the short-term (2017-2019), medium-term (2020-2022), and long-term (2023 and beyond), to foster continuous and rapid development in the region. The aim of this SIWP is to identify, align and monitor the planned and budgeted projects of MDAs within these time frames to fast-track execution of all high-level plans.
These two vital Niger Delta policy documents were consistently made reference to in the drafting of the 2nd National Council on the Niger Delta Communique. The Niger Delta Youth Governance Monitoring Group (NDYGMG) is hereby encouraged to make contact with the Press and Public Relations Unit of the Ministry to get copies of the Communique (which is published in The Punch Newspaper of Wednesday 20th September, 2017, Page 36) and the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP) to be educated appropriately.
We hereby encourage the Niger Delta Youth Governance Monitoring Group (NDYGMG) and other youth groups to join hands with Pastor Usain Uguru Usani and the Buhari-Government to implement the Niger Delta New Vision.
9. It will excite us to educate the group that the Ministry under Pastor Usani Uguru Usani has not jettisoned the Niger Delta Action Plan nor the Niger Delta Master Plan, as it alleges. Rather, the Ministry has designed a Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP), which is a vehicle that unites efforts of all government agencies that are saddled with development efforts in the region. The aim of SIWP is to; a. Provide a common framework for actualising concerted development plans in the region; b. Provide a joint accountability framework for monitoring and evaluation of development projects in the region; c. Provide a unified strategic response based on a shared vision for development action by the agencies driving development in the region; and d. To offer a set commitment to the region as a development compact.
The SIWP focuses on the strategic objectives raised in the Federal Government’s 20-Point Agenda, as the administration drives the Niger Delta New Vision. These strategic objectives have been streamlined into the following 13 areas, under which projects proposals have already been organised into the following areas: a. Core Business Focus in the Petroleum Industry; b. Jobs Creation: Target 100,000 Jobs across each State over the next 5 years; c. Focused Investments in Gas to Power; d. Incentive for Peace Investment Scheme; e. Massive Civil Infrastructure Initiatives; f. Environmental Remediation and Clean-Up; g. Domesticate Oil Business Opportunities; h. Niger Delta Development Fund Initiative; i. Militancy to Education (MTE) Initiative; j. State Amnesty Programmes; k. Youth Business and Chamber of Commerce Initiative; l. Federal Government Partnership with States; m. Policing for Peace – Community-based Policing.
This approach has been developed in recognition that the Niger Delta region does not need another high-level development strategy document like the Niger Delta Master Plan and the Niger Delta Action Plan. Hence, the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP) does NOT replace nor substitute the Niger Delta Action Plan of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) and/or the Niger Delta Master Plan of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), but coordinates the implementation of these two plans, vis-à-vis government’s efforts in the short-term (2017-2019), medium-term (2020-2022), and long-term (2023 and beyond), to foster continuous and rapid development in the region. The aim of this SIWP is to identify, align and monitor the planned and budgeted projects of MDAs within these time frames to fast-track execution of all high-level plans.
These two vital Niger Delta policy documents were consistently made reference to in the drafting of the 2nd National Council on the Niger Delta Communique. The Niger Delta Youth Governance Monitoring Group (NDYGMG) is hereby encouraged to make contact with the Press and Public Relations Unit of the Ministry to get copies of the Communique (which is published in The Punch Newspaper of Wednesday 20th September, 2017, Page 36) and the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP) to be educated appropriately.
We hereby encourage the Niger Delta Youth Governance Monitoring Group (NDYGMG) and other youth groups to join hands with Pastor Usain Uguru Usani and the Buhari-Government to implement the Niger Delta New Vision.
Signed
Marshall Gundu
Director Press and Public Relations
