By Francis Sadhere
The controversial Maritime University of Nigeria, Okerenkoko in Delta State according to Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is a done deal, saying that it has passed through the second reading in House of Assembly and will soon take off.
Osinbajo made this statement at the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun Delta State during his fact finding visit to the state.
The Vice President said the Maritime University is very crucial to the people of the region, adding that the Federal Government is doing all it can to ensure it takes off soon.
He assured the people of the Niger Delta region that the President was ready to work with the people of the region, but appealed for peace in the region.
He said peace was necessary for the development of the region, adding that without the needed peace all the demands of the people cannot be fulfilled.
Prof. Osinbajo who stated that the visit to Delta state was very crucial in solving the Niger Delta crisis, stressed that this is not the time for dialogue but time for action. He added that all the issues of the region are well known to everybody and should no longer be discussed.
He called on youths in the region to organize themselves and come together and speak with one voice, noting that the youths must work for their future now.
Also former Information minister and elderstates man, Chief Edwin Clark said the Niger region’s patience was running out, calling on the Federal Government to quickly set up their own dialogue team to negotiate with the region.
Earlier the Vice President who was also at Gbaramatu kingdom in Warri South West local government area of the state, decried the state of the region saying no Nigerian is proud of how the region is.
He said, “The niger Delta of today aside from environmental degradation, between 1998 and 2016, over 20000 persons have died from fire incidents arising from breaches of pipelines.
“The Niger Delta of today, everywhere you go there are signboards of proposed infrastructural projects mostly uncompleted and many simply abandoned. Many of the initiatives to change the story has not been able to make those changes. From the Niger Delta Development Board in the 1960s to ONPADEC to NDDC and the amnesty programme, many of these projects have not been able to meet the objectives they were set up to do.
“My message to you today, it is time to prepare for the future. It is not the future of degradation, poor infrastructure and it is not the future of no roads. It is not the future of harassments and locking up. Our future is the future of progress and development. Unfortunately, there is no time because the future is already here.
” The Federal Government alone cannot solve the problems of the Niger Delta. It is impossible for the FG alone. We must sit down with the state governments and the representatives to actualize the promises we made to the people.”
