It will expose more people to economic dangers….
By Kevin Pepple
A constitutional lawyer based in Rivers State, Chief Albert Owuru has picked holes in the scrapping of the Ministry of Niger Delta by President Bota Tinubu.
Owuru asserted that President Tinubu’s decision without regard to the people before scraping the ministry is a sign of disrespect and lack of love for the people.
He maintained that the scraping of the ministry will further impoverish the people and expose them to more economic dangers.
Owuru emphasized that the oil industry has been taken over by people from other regions with some high level of control by the Europeans and the West without any input by the people of the Niger Delta.
The Niger Delta elder statesman spoke in an exclusive interview with the National Forerunner, saying that establishment of the ministry portends some risk and may breed tension among the people if the action is not reversed immediately.
Chief Owuru explained that the reason for the setting up the ministry of Niger Delta by late President Umaru Yar’adua’s administration was to address the unique problems facing the region due to prolonged neglect including environmental degradation by oil multinationals and successive governments lack of care, adding that the abolition of the ministry by the present administration should not have been considered in the first place when the region is still deep in poverty and huger despite its contributions to the well-being of the country’s economy.
He maintained that the action and negative policies of Tinubu administration against the people of the region is more or less a wake up call for the people to demand an increase from the 13 per cent derivation to something more.
” I think the people of Niger Delta region should see this action as a wake up call and stop oil production just like what the people of Ogoni did. The people should be able to define what they want since the President thinks they are not capable,” Owuru said.
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