The acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs Ibim Semenitari, has attributed the lack of economic development and regional integration in the South-South and the South-East, to poor implementation of existing plans for the region.
She said this while speaking at the second South-East/South-South Development Forum, in Port Harcourt, at the weekend, insisting that the major problem of the region was not lack of plans but the non-implementation of existing ones.
Mrs Semenitari cited the example of the Niger Delta Regional Development Masterplan, which she said, had not been fully embraced by critical stakeholders.
She stressed the need for a more engaging and robust cooperation and collaboration among all stakeholders, from communities to the civil society organisations (CSOs) and from companies and agencies operating in the Niger Delta to government at all levels.
“For us to succeed as one force unified against regional poverty, against infrastructural gaps and all the indices of adverse development, it is important for us to unite under one unimpeachable vision.
“The Niger Delta Regional Development Master plan, which NDDC facilitated, provides such a platform, a worthy pathway and roadmap to sustainable development.
“It is important that all of us work together to return that plan to its place of pride as the central document to drive development in the region”, she said, adding that the Master plan was the aggregate of the collective yearnings and expectations of the entire Niger Delta.
“It was developed by a coalition of all relevant stakeholders in the region, working with local, national and international agencies, collating data from every community of the Niger Delta, on every sphere of human activity.
President of the South-East/South-South Professionals of Nigeria (SESSPN), Mr Emeka Ugwu-Ojo, called for regional integration and economic development to make the region a global investment destination.
“It took from frameworks and established action plans from all over the world, built them around our own realities and made them homegrown and peculiarly Niger Deltan”, she added.
The NDDC acting managing director also said there was the need to find a lasting solution to the prolonged inactivity in Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar ports.
These ports, she noted, were strategically located for the operations of those doing business in the South-South and South East zones and which had great potentials to create a sustainable livelihood for the people of the region.
According to him, the aim of the association was to transform the region economically by attracting investors.
“The advantage of this investment strategy is immense and is certainly the most practical approach to jump-starting the long overdue economic revolution of the region.
“For this vision to be realised, it requires a strong political will and leadership from our political leaders; partisanship has to take back seat to common interest of the region to enable adoption and faithful implementation of the elements of the plan that require public sector actions and commitment”, he said.
Chairman of the organising committee of the programme, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, urged all stakeholders to project a new roadmap for the regional integration and economic development of the region.
“What the situation demands is our mutual co-operation to fully unleash our potentials, human and material-wise on the world stage through a new framework of an integrated economy”, he said.
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