NDDC's masterplan for Niger Delta out, targets even growth
From Anietie Akpan, Calabar
EFFORTS to give the people of the Niger Delta region a new lease of life received a boost at the weekend as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) made public a masterplan for the area.
The condensed 400 page Niger Delta Regional Development draft masterplan was presented in Calabar, Cross River State, by the NDDC's managing director, Chief Emmanuel Aguariavwodo.
The draft plan was first presented to members of the state House of Assembly and enlarged state executive council members at the executive chambers and later in a public workshop in the state.
While presenting the masterplan before Governor Donald Duke and members of the state executive council and lawmakers, Aguariavwodo said the commission initiated the draft four years ago with the intention of solving the problems identified within the zone.
He said the plan, which has foreign input and about 80 per cent workload by Nigerians reflects a tool that will be useful to every state in the region.
He added that the draft is part of the fulfilment of what President Olusegun Obasanjo promised the region in terms of development.
He said the draft adopted a bottom-up approach, which is highly commendable and that every aspect of human activity has been encapsulated in the plan thereby making it all-embracing.
At the workshop, the NDDC chief disclosed that "it took us four years to produce the masterplan which is 5,000 pages but condensed to about 400 that will stand the test of time."
In the plan, he added: "Every community and local government area in the Niger Delta was touched (and) this is a model for other regions to follow. We intend to start implementing the plan as soon as possible and we urge members of the public and other stakeholders to critically examine the master-plan and make their inputs."
The chairman of the masterplan committee and commissioner representing Cross River State in the NDDC, Dr. Eyo Etim Nyong, noted that the draft aims at proposing a sustainable and even development with a philosophy to show common development growth.
He added that the masterplan is to attain an optimal development of the region thereby doing away with dependence on oil and gas.
Duke on his part called for a clear-cut liaison between the NDDC and the states in which it operates in order to do away with duplication of functions between them.
He added that both parties should see themselves as institutions playing complimentary role rather than being rivals in project execution.
According to him, the execution of the masterplan will ginger rapidity in development process. He also noted that it is critical that the states and the commission should partner and integrate programmes for the benefit of the people.
He advised that states should be contacted for their areas of interest, adding that Cross River's need was education since it will be wrong if there is no manpower to sustain and maintain the various developmental projects put in place.
Duke stressed that the development focus of the state is on agriculture and tourism because it is where it has comparative advantage above other states.
The governor added that there was the need for the state to work together with NDDC in the production of agricultural produce.
He stated that there is the problem of the absence of processing capacity, which he called for the commission's assistance.`
|
