Flood Recovery: MOSIEND urges N’Delta Ministry to prioritise clearing water hyacinth, agric

Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa

The Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) on Saturday urged the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to prioritize clearing of water hyacinth and agriculture to expedite recovery from flood devastation.

MOSIEND and a group of Niger Delta stakeholders appealed to the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umana Okon Umana and the newly appointed Acting Managing Director of the NDDC Engr. Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua to utilise the two areas to revive economic activities that will reflate the economy of the region.

The group made the call in a statement signed by MOSIEND President Kennedy Tonjo-West, after meeting with Ethnic groups in Yenagoa.

They recommended payment for completed and verified contracts for the clearance of water hyacinth on the region’s waterways and the award of new jobs as hyacinth has virtually covered the waterways along the creeks of the region.

They noted that the development has made it unsafe for boats and other Marine vessels to navigate.

“Also, we urge them to review and pay the proposed agricultural grants to cooperatives and SMEs to revive and rebuild the local economy of the Region.

“It is pathetic that the local economy of the Niger Delta states, namely Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Rivers, Ondo and other contiguous states have been devastated by the flood.

“The states in the region are therefore in dire need of rehabilitation and resuscitation of their economy.

“We have implicit confidence in the managerial capability of the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, and lauded the good intentions he has for the people of the region,” MOSIEND stated.

The group noted that if prompt attention is given to these appeals, it will go a long way towards alleviating the massive poverty induced by the ravaging floods, and the deliberate abandonment of strategic recurrent policies that ought to serve as bolsters to grassroots socio-economic activities.

They took a swipe at the immediate past Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswil Akpabio, for policies that encouraged mediocrity and mismanagement of funds budgeted for the region and warned that any attempt to divert the approved budget of the ministry and NDDC will be resisted.

According to them, the budget for Niger Delta is not intended to service the bourgeois in the society but development of the region.

“We can’t keep quiet when contracts and development schemes, created to alleviate the sufferings of the poor masses are easily expunged, this method must stop.

“Grants for cooperative, entrepreneur, vocational, educational scholarship and water hyacinth control are deliberately created to cushion the harsh effect of economic shock at the local level to avert insecurity and anarchy in the region.

“We believe the Honourable Minister, himself a grassroots person, will see the wisdom to do the needful,” Tonjo-West stated.