Honesty crucial in resolving Niger Delta crisis – President Yar’adua
By
Jul 5, 2007, 10:42

President Umaru Musa Yar’adua has disclosed that a greater display of honesty and transparency on the part of leaders in the Niger Delta would help a lot in solving the problems of the region.

The President who stated this on July 4 at a Stakeholders’ Forum on the Niger Delta Development Commission Master Plan in State House, Abuja noted,

“if the people can see that their leaders are honest, they will understand, but once they see that their leaders are in power to make money, then there will be a problem.”

Stressing that “we must begin to build the trust of the people,” he urged state governors to “realize that the 13 per cent derivation to oil producing states is a development fund which should not go into recurrent expenditure.”

He noted, “Once you begin to spend capital budget on recurrent expenditure, the essence of government is defeated.”

On the Master Plan, the President said that the real challenge was to put in place an implementation mechanism that would transform the Plan from being mere paper work, to concrete realities on ground.

He directed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to liase with the nine states of the region in order to synchronize the 15-year Master Plan with those of the relevant states.

President Yar’adua, emphasized the imperative of peace in the actualisation of the Master Plan, fixed the end of August for another meeting of the Stakeholders’ Forum to address the funding of the implementation of the Plan beginning with the 2008 Budget.

Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, the governors of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Imo, and Rivers states; the deputy-governor of Edo state; the NDDC chairman and Managing Director; attended the Forum.

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