Fashola: We Must Change Current N’ Delta Narrative
A week after the acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, visited Bayelsa, with the promise of a new vision for the Niger Delta region, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, yesterday in Yenagoa, urged all stakeholders to work towards changing the ongoing negative conversation around the region.
Fashola, who inspected some federal road projects in the state, including the Okarki-YenigweKolo road leading to Ogbia, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s local government and the popular East-West road, called on governors of the oil-rich area to ‘step up’ in collaboration with the federal government and change the face of the Niger Delta.
He admitted that the government at the centre has not had as much impact as it should in the region, even with substantial resources at its disposal, but promised that with the renewed attention on the Niger Delta, things would soon change.
While noting that development can only take place in an atmosphere of peace, the former Lagos governor vowed to complete major road projects in the state, working closely with all stakeholders.
“We need to find peace here very quickly and the story must change. This is one of the reasons we have come here; to see if what is being reported about this place is true. And this is not a place where the story suggests you can’t work.
“But we need to get more ambassadors who will say ‘I work here, I live here. This place is safe’. And that’s what encourages people to come out and address the infrastructure work that needs to be done here.
“But we can only do that by collaboration, by peace and partnership. Not only do the governor and I have our work cut out for us, but the governors and his colleagues in the South South must step up now and change the conversation around this place”, the Minister said.
Fashola, who acknowledged the difficulty of infrastructural development in the region because of the terrain, stressed that the Niger Delta remains of huge importance to the federal government and therefore deserves all the attention it can get.