The creation of the Niger Delta Ministry is an excellent idea as it attempts a novel and creative way of tackling the intractable problems in the Niger Delta. We should give President Yar'Adua the credit and give this new approach a try. We should, however, be careful not to make it a precedent of solving such problems so that we do not, in the future, create a Ministry of the Chad Basin etc. I wish to applaud Prof. Tam David-West for supporting the idea but I also wish to make a brief comment on his idea of not appointing a Niger Delta indigene as the Minister or as the financial agent. I consider this to be very troubling. It gives the impression and the implication that we can not find someone from the Niger Delta with character, stature, objectivity and an intellecually caring interest to be the Minister. It also implies that we can not find a person from the Niger Delta honest and discilined enough to handle the financial aspects of the Ministry. I do not think this is what he wants to imply. I do not think that others outside of the Niger Delta are any more honest and objective than those in the Niger Delta. I think the best people should be appointed to the positions. I applaud President Yar'Adua for trying a new way of looking at the problems to see if this may be the answer.