Members of the Niger Delta Oil Communities Agenda (NIDOCA) have commended the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the proposed construction of a rail project across the states of the Niger Delta oil-rich region.
In a statement signed by its Director, Media and Publicity Comrade Emma Akpovoka, NIDOCA said the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Summit, in Lagos recently, was a welcome development.
The MoU was between the NDDC and Atlanta Global Resources Inc. (AGRI) on the possibility of building a railway network that will connect the nine states of the Niger Delta region.
The group stated, “gigantic and impactful projects such as the rail project should be a priority of NDDC because it has become imperative for the interventionist agency to take a departure from the construction of mere classrooms, revocations of schools, fencing of schools, supply of desks, and some irrelevant projects which ordinarily should be handled by the state governments in the region.
“The NDDC should also desist from the tarring of roads to homes of politicians and on beneficial roads in communities not producing oil and gas, while several oil and gas producing communities don’t have a single project executed by NDDC. The NDDC’s focus should be on core oil and gas-producing communities.
“It is unfortunate that since 2000, when the commission was established, majority of core oil and gas producing communities have been totally neglected by the Commission, as there are no single NDDC projects in the communities.
“Since the proposed railway network will cover Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers states, it is almost certain that the railway will pass through several core oil and gas producing communities and this will be of great impact to the indigenes and the communities.”
The group, however, advised the commission to ignore distractions and ensure that the proposed railway project to be executed via Public Private Partnerships (PPP) becomes a reality as the main beneficiaries would be Niger Deltans.
“The new board and management of the commission should also look at constructing major roads and bridges to connect riverine oil and gas producing communities, it is quite unfortunate that most of the riverine and rural oil and gas producing are not feeling the impact of NDDC,” they further noted.
The group further encouraged the commission to also initiate another PPP to build Specialist Hospitals to provide quality health services to indigenes and residents in the core oil and gas producing communities whose health is being negatively affected daily by the hazards resulting from oil exploration and gas flare.
It maintained that the NDDC should give utmost importance to the health of the people in the core oil-producing communities, noting ” as our poor people are dying daily from oil exploration hazards.
“We passionately appeal to NDDC to consider the building of a Specialist Hospital in each state in Niger Delta which can be jointly run or managed via a Public Private Partnership (PPP). This is the best the commission can do for our people in the core oil and gas-producing communities because good health is life.
“Once again, we join Niger Deltans to commend the NDDC Board, Managing Director and management of the commission for the laudable initiative to construct a railway across the region, while we also urge the commission to embark on Town Hall meetings in each State for interaction with the people and stakeholders.
“We also believe that the Managing Director, Sam Ogbuku, who signed the MOU for the proposed $15b railway project did not commit any offence as being mischievously peddled.
“We admonish persons who are trying to discredit or create the wrong impression about the $ 15 billion railway project should desist as the action taken by NDDC and the Managing Director is in the best interest of the Niger Delta region.
“The commission should make it a priority to always consult the communities to get their inputs and recommendations for prefered projects to be constructed in the respective communities, to ensure that projects execution should be people-oriented,” the group said.
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