Elder Statesman, Chief Edwin Clark on Wednesday slammed President Bola Tinubu over the scrapping of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, News About Nigeria reports.
While kicking against the scrap of the ministry, the former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South Leader noted that the people of the region will not allow that.
Speaking in a statement released on Wednesday, the Elder statesman noted that there was no basis for the scrapping of the Ministry.
He further accused the Federal government of scrapping the Ministry to enable them further squander the money meant for the region.
The Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, also accused President Tinubu of not having any good plans for the people of Niger Delta.
The statement partly reads, “The news came to me as a surprise
There’s no basis for scrapping it now, Yar’Adua had a poised for creating it, to develop the Niger Delta Region and Nigeria, to bring peace to the region. What I have noted so far is that there is no basis for scrapping it. Yar’Adua had a clear purpose to address the security situation in the Niger Delta, which led to the creation of the Ministry to focus on the development of that area. We have been working for some time now, managing our commissions.
“It is not about that; it is the administrative structure created by the President. Unfortunately, it was misunderstood by Nigerians due to its complexity. Why would you take over a Ministry without any development plans, funding, or concrete actions? Even the East-West Road, which was meant to be under the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, is not being addressed; it has been handed back to the Ministry of Works. What I am saying is that the federal government lacks special arrangements for this region. When I saw that every region was establishing its development centres or Commissions, I anticipated these issues would arise.”
