News Roundup
President Yar’Adua preaches peace and development in Bayelsa
May 11, 2008, 19:20
| | President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has called on the youths of Niger Delta to give peace a chance as peace is the only condition for fast tracking the development of the oil bearing region.
Addressing a mammoth crowd of party faithful at the Yenogoa Sports Complex on Saturday, May 10, President Yar’Adua warned that unless oil exploration and production were allowed to go on uninterrupted and in a peaceful atmosphere, the nation may be pushed out of her number one position in Africa by Angola.
“The Vice President is leading the process of dialogue. I appeal that you co-operate with the Vice President, the National Assembly and the Government. This conference will provide a way forward for peace and I appeal in the name of God. I am talking from the bottom of my heart. It is painful that we could lose our position,” he said.
President Yar’Adua said the Niger Delta region has the potential of becoming the petrochemical power in Africa, as no other part of the continent has the potential, but lamented that the absence of peace has retarded African development in the past 50 years.
“There is a growing energy situation in the world and the energy demand is becoming worrisome, the situation has started driving upward the price of crude oil. When the world press talks about it, they said it is due to the lack of peace in Iran, Iraq and now the Niger Delta region.
“This assertion is becoming true. It is because we provide the world with the opportunity to do so. It is painful for me because we have the potentials to become the petrochemical hub of the region,” he said.
He said the growing energy demand all over the world, which is responsible for the rise in oil price, is due to the needs of growing economies of China and some other Asian countries and not unrest in the Niger Delta.
As part of his seven-point agenda, the president assured that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) will receive all its entitlements in the 2008 budget, according to the NDDC Act.
“We have set aside funds for the Oil producing states of the country, and in the supplementary budget, we will make the issue of power/energy, security and the Niger Delta region, a priority. The administration is doing everything possible to lay foundation for development,” he said.
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