Chinedu Eze
5 October 2008
Lagos — River State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has expressed confidence in the newly created Ministry of Niger Delta, saying that it would bring development to the region.
Answering questions from newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos yesterday, Amechi flayed the criticism against the creation of the ministry by President Umar Musa Yar'Adua, insisting that it would significantly aid development in the restive area.
"The important thing is that we should at least have development in the Niger Delta area and create employment opportunity so that people can get employed and reduce the crises in the region."
The Rivers State Governor remarked, "We have to try it. As a former legislator, if you don't try a law, you would say that you cannot amend it. But I think it would go a long way. The moment you bring in employment, I think it would go a long way."
On the activities of militants in the state, Amaechi said that many stories about the crisis were exaggerated, observing that the cause of the problem is multifarious, adding "there is nothing functioning but propaganda everywhere."
Amaechi said that the failure of the militants to dialogue with government has exacerbated the crisis in the region.
"If you talk about self determination, then we need to have a group of people who think they can talk it over with the government. There is absolutely nothing functioning.
We just wake up today, propaganda everywhere and we have said severally, come to Port Harcourt , there are limited responses here and there. A lot of these things have contributed to the crisis."
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