The Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan,
on Tuesday directed that a N19bn
intervention fund hitherto set aside for the
dredging of the lower River Niger should be
used to fund shoreline protection and land
reclamation projects in affected
communities in the Niger Delta region.
The Acting President gave the directive at a
meeting with governors of the Niger Delta
states at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He directed the Federal Ministry of Finance
to hand over the N19bn to the Ministry of
Niger Delta Affairs for the execution of the
projects.
The meeting, which was described as that
of the Steering Council on Niger Delta
Amnesty, considered various proposals on
ways to accelerate infrastructural
development in the Niger Delta region.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Acting
President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ima
Niboro, who addressed journalists after the
meeting behind closed doors, explained that
Jonathan gave the directive after the
governors reached a consensus that the
shoreline protection project was a priority
for communities in the region.
He said, “At the Steering Council on Niger
Delta Amnesty meeting, the main issue was
actually to take a decision on certain areas
of need for the Niger Delta area.
“There was a proposal to dredge the lower
Niger and because of some issues about the
area, the Acting President decided to get the
governors to take a look at these proposals
and see the areas of critical need of their
own states so that we take a bottom-up
approach in the area of infrastructural
development of the Niger Delta.
“Basically, the issue was between the
dredging of the lower River Niger to areas
that impact on the communities vis-a-vis
shoreline protection and land reclamation
and all the governors reached a consensus
that the most urgent requirement was land
reclamation and shoreline protection. ”
He noted that the governors’ decision was
informed by the fact that several
communities in the Niger Delta region had
lost large parts of their shorelines to the
ocean.
He said, “There have been several instances
of communities that have lost much of their
shorelines to the ocean; in fact, Bayelsa
State has lost almost one kilometre, if not
more of its shoreline, to the ocean.
“So, today, the Acting President directed
that the N19bn intervention fund should be
passed to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs
from the Ministry of Finance for this
shoreline protection initiative. ”
He added that besides land reclamation and
shoreline protection, water projects would
also form part of the intervention.
According to Niboro, “During the period,
there will certainly be some challenges
about water sources because those
activities will cause some measure of
mudding-up of water channels.
“So, there will be some water projects as
part of this process to ensure that there is
water. ”
He further explained that the project for
dredging of the lower River Niger would
commence once the land reclamation and
shoreline protection project was concluded.
“Subsequently, when these areas have been
well protected and land adequately
reclaimed, we can go into the area of
dredging of the lower Niger, ” he said.
Jonathan, in the same vein, was said to
have directed that there should be no
political consideration in the selection of
communities that would benefit from the
project.
Niboro said, “So, that was the decision at
the meeting today and the Acting President
also directed that consideration for the
communities to be protected should not
have any political undertone.
“It should be those communities that are
seriously impacted because many
communities have lost most of their land to
water, anybody from the area can attest to
that. ”
He also offered further clarification on
where the N19bn would be sourced from.
He said, “There was a special intervention
fund that was supposed to be for the
dredging of that part (of River Niger).
“ So, instead of using it to dredge now,
which will cause greater challenges; you
know when you dredge, the water channels
become deeper, flow becomes faster and it
will actually impact more on the shorelines
of the communities.
“It is that fund that is to be redeployed to
protect the shorelines according to the
request of the communities.
“We had a meeting last week and the
governors were mandated to seek the
opinion of the communities on what exactly
was their requirements and this is their
consensus. ”
He said that the project would commence
“ as soon as possible.”
“It is an urgent project which does not need
any time wasting; there are procurement
issues involved.
“Once those issues are sorted out, the
projects will not waste any time,” he added.
Niboro said the shoreline protection and
land reclamation projects were “also part of
the amnesty programme.”
“As you know, infrastructure is also part of
the amnesty programme. When you talk
about infrastructure you are also talking
about that aspect of amnesty, ” he said.
Governors at the meeting included Chief
Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom, Adams
Oshiomhole of Edo, Emmanuel Uduaghan of
Delta, Timipreye Sylva of Bayelsa and Rotimi
Amaechi of Rivers.
Federal Government officials at the meeting
included the Ministers of Niger Delta Affairs,
Chief Ufot Ekaette and Mr. Godsday
Orubebe, and the Minister of Finance, Dr.
Mansur Muhtar, as well as the Special
Adviser to the President on Niger Delta
Affairs, Chief Timi Alaibe.
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