The Nigerian government has worked out a nine-point package plan
to resolve the restive oil-rich Niger Delta crisis, local newspaper
Vanguard reported Wednesday.
The report quoted Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as saying
that the federal government had rolled out a string of definitive
measures to develop the coastal states of the Niger Delta covering
employment generation, transportation, education, health,
telecommunications, environment, agriculture, power and water
resources.
Under the development plan, Obasanjo said the government would
resume construction of the abandoned East-West highway with an
estimated investment of 230 billion naira (about US41.77 billion)
to link the backward Niger Delta region with Lagos, the nation's
commercial capital in a bid to eliminate poverty and promote
economic development of the coastal states of the Niger Delta.
He added that construction of the East-West highway project
would begin in May, which would provide some 20,000 jobs for local
people.
Under the whole package plan, the short-term measures will be
implemented within two years, medium-term within over a period of
two to five years and long-term measures within five years and
beyond.
Meanwhile, President Obasanjo warned militant youths of the
region to cease fire, stressing that socioeconomic development
programs cannot flow alongside violence. He asked the governors to
take the responsibility of talking to those guys (militant
youths).
"You cannot carry a gun and expect a warm handshake," he
said.
Despite its huge oil wealth, the Niger Delta is afflicted by
sabotage, kidnappings and other forms of violence as villagers
there accuse oil firms of not doing anything to develop the
impoverished area.
Nigeria is the biggest oil producer in Africa or the world's
sixth largest oil exporter with a usual daily output of 2.5 million
barrels and Niger Delta region's crude oil accounts for more than
90 percent of the nation's total.
(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2006)
