NDDC Presents Master Plan in Akwa-Ibom
Authorities of Niger Delta Develop-ment Commission, NDDC, will on Monday present the newly produced Master Plan for the Niger Delta region to the Governor of Akwa-Ibom state, Obong Victor Attah, and other stake holders in the state.
The Master Plan according to Mr Anietie Usen, the Head of Corporate Affairs of the Commission, noted that it has been carefully designed after very wide consultations with several stake holders in the region.
Usen added that the presentation to all the state governments in the Niger Delta region is aimed at availing the document to the various states and their Houses of Assembly "so that they can also make inputs into the final phase of the plan."
The Master Plan which is planned to last for 15 years will have its implementation commenced by January next year and it is expected to enhance organised and systematic development of the zone, in a more orderly and calculated pace.
Chief Onyema Ugochuk-wu, the Chairman of the NDDC Board, had expressed optimism that with the plan, "by 2020, the hitherto turbulent, poor and backward Niger Delta region will be Africa's most prosperous, most peacefu;l and most pleasant region," adding that "by this we should have fulfilled the deepest yearnings and aspirations of lour people."
Usen noted that the commission was presently mobilising the various state Houses of Assembly to embrace the plan so that " the various state Governments will have the legal basis of implemnting the provisions of the plan, because without the legislative endorsement of the plan, there will be no basis for the state governments to begin expending funds towards implementing the plan".
The Master Plan, designed by GTZ, a German Consul-tancy firm, in collaboration with Wilbahi, designed development schedules for 24 sectors of the Niger Delta.
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