Mike Odiegwu Yenagoa

Traditional rulers and elders from the nine oil-producing states in the Niger Delta have advised President Goodluck Jonathan to give issues of development in the region and in the country the deserved attention.



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The stakeholders, under the aegis of the Association of Community Leaders of Oil Producing States said they reviewed the policies and development plans of Jonathan's administration and concluded that there was a need to speed up project implementation in view of time.

The group in a statement referred Jonathan to the short regime of Murtala Mohammed, saying the President should emulate Mohammed in good governance and development.

The statement by the group's National Chairman, Mr. Ishmael Frank-Oputu, said though the president had demonstrated passion for development through his utterances, he should hit the ground running.

The statement read, "The next four years is ample time for Jonathan to usher in transformation in the country because it took Murtala only six months to create Abuja and transform Nigeria. In Jonathan's administration, we expect to see physical development on ground.

"We urge Mr. President to urgently tackle developmental issues in the nine oil producing states or else he would fail the people who have reposed so much trust in him. We are also calling on the Federal Government to create six new states out of the nine oil producing states within the current dispensation in order to fast-track the development of the Niger Delta region."

The community leaders asked Jonathan to ensure commencement of work on the Greenfield Refinery at Oloibiri and the coastal road from Lagos to Calabar."

"Another project to be addressed is a proposed road linking of Amassoma, Otuan, Oporoma and Igbomotoru communities all in the heart of the oil producing area of the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State," the group said. http://odili.net/news/source/2011/aug/10/836.html

Dem dey waste dier time.