Renowned human rights activist, Ann-Kio Briggs has disagreed with the decision of President Bola Tinubu to scrap the Ministry of Niger Delta, labelling it as a wrong move.
Briggs submitted that she believes the President was advised to take the decision, but the advice is terribly wrong.
Speaking on Friday as a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television, the activist said the move sparks consideration of a possible shift towards regional governments.
She, however said President Tinubu alone can’t decide on returning regionalism in the country as the citizens and other stakeholders must be carried along.
In her words, “The Ministry of Niger Delta was created by the late (President Umaru) Yar’Adua. There was a reason for the creation. So, just removing it because the president was advised. I want to believe that he was advised because if he did it by himself that would be terribly wrong.”
Naija News recalls back in October, President Tinubu, as part of his cabinet reshuffling, scrapped the Ministry of Niger Delta and replaced it with the Ministry of Regional Development to oversee all development commissions like the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), North-West Development Commission, South-West Development Commission, and the North-East Development Commission.
But Briggs while speaking on Friday questioned the rationale behind the President’s decision.
“But that’s not going to be the solution because who is going to fund the commissions? Is it the regions because it is called the Regional Development Ministry? Is it the states in the regions?
“What are the regions because we don’t work with regions right now; we are working with geopolitical zones.
“So, I was lost when I heard regions. Are we going back to regionalism? If we are, we have to discuss it, the president can’t decide on his own to restructure Nigeria. If we are restructuring Nigeria, the president alone can’t restructure Nigeria, he has to take my opinion and your opinion into consideration,” Briggs stated.
The activist argued further that it is good for regions in the country to use their resources to develop their areas. In her view, resources from the Niger Delta has been used to develop Nigeria since independence while the region itself suffers neglect.
She also lamented that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been turned into a money-making venture for politicians who lose elections.
“Niger Delta has been developing Nigeria since 1958, we want to use our resources to develop our region, let regions use their resources to develop themselves.
“NDDC was created by Olusegun Obasanjo…There was OMPADEC (Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission) before NDDC. OMPADEC was an agency.
“Before OMPADEC, there was the Basin Authority that was created for the Niger Delta, which was borne out of the meeting before independence that said, ‘Look, this area called the Niger Delta area is neglected, they bring a lot to the table, they are afraid that a bigger Nigeria, an independent Nigeria will further neglect them’.
“These authorities were created to help us. Were we helped by those authorities? No, we were not. While we were not, we may not have time to go into it.
“Every agency that has been created for the Niger Delta, speaking with experience, with the ones I came to meet starting from the Basin Authority, all the way to the NDDC; I look at the NDDC and describe the NDDC as an ATM for failed politicians, disgruntled politicians and politicians that have had their electoral wins taken away from them and given to somebody else,” she said.
