The need for fresh solutions to turmoil in Niger Delta assumed global dimension with President Umaru Yar'Adua seeking the United Nation's support to return peace to the region. The request was made to Ban Ki Moon, UN secretary-general, during the G8 Summit in Berlin, Germany.

Niger Delta region, in past months, has become hot bed of the nation. The supposed battle for the emancipation of the region has assumed an alarming dimension. Hostage taking, kidnapping and bombings have escalated the level of insecurity in that region.

The enormity of these problems necessitated the urgency which the Yar'Adua administration is according them, even though the proposed Niger Delta summit has been shifted to allow broader consultations within and outside the country.

President Umar Yar'Adua must match its government's renewed determination to bring peace to that region with sincere pursuit of solutions. Whatever consultation he has to make with stakeholders must be brisk so that much time will not be wasted in seeking ways out of the logjam in the oil rich region.

Most problems in the Niger Delta could be traced to abject under-development inspite of billions of dollars derivable as revenues from crude oil extracted from there. The non-challant attitude of multinational oil companies to the welfare of Niger-Delta indigenes engaging in oil exploration activities in this region has not help matters.

The immediate past administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo under-estimated the violence and other anomalies that have degenerated to a level never witnessed. The last minute official effort at that time to curb the menace had little or no impact.

The Yar'Adua administration must come up with ideas and solutions that would give hope to the people of the region. We are aware that a new Niger Delta Development Master Plan was launched at the tail end of last administration's tenure. Like the ones before this, contents of the Master Plan are too general with no specific details as to how they could be effectively implemented. The government has also demonstrated serious lack of political will in tackling the Niger Delta impasse.

Here comes another opportunity to put an end to long sufferings of people of Niger Delta. The government can do it by applying the desired political will to enforce sincere implementation of contents of the Master Plan already at hand.

There is very little external help can achieve if concrete foundation is not laid within. The new government must do everything to strengthen the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, which has done fairly well within the context of its operation. The militants must also be given the opportunity to articulate their position in an atmosphere devoid of official betrayals.

The nation cannot afford to let the situation continue since happenings in Niger Delta will have reverberating effects in other parts of the country and even globally because of the region's strategic oil endowments. Now is the time to bring succour to the region when there is crude oil and attention still on the area.