Luka Binniyat
15 October 2008
The Niger Delta Technical Committee, has been divided into sub-committees to focus on specific areas.
In a statement yesterday, the sub-committees cover the following sectors: infrastructure, governance, economic development, resource management and distribution, health and Education, Women and Youth empowerment, Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility and Peace building, Militancy and Decommissioning.
In a statement, Chairman of the committee, Mr. Ledum Mitee said; "if you think we have placed these committees in the order of their importance then you are mistaken as we do realize that they are interconnected and mutually self-reinforcing..
"For instance, whilst acknowledging education as a key issue especially considering its features of accessibility, availability, acceptability, adaptability and quality, it seems to me that we cannot divorce its consideration from the crisis tipping challenge of how to deal with the product of acquired education which means finding jobs, reflecting the educational attainment.
Furthermore, we do recognize the importance of infrastructure to the development of our region but without progress in the empowerment of our neglected youth, women and communities, I would argue that we are doomed to fail in our mission of reform", he argued.
The sub committees on these issues, according to the Release, have been tasked to consider tough questions and look for practical answers from existing reports and experiences that will help direct governments' efforts in fostering development in the region.
He told the committee members of the assurance of the Presidency Umaru Yar'Adua that the report of the committee, which would soon be ready, would not be left to rot but would be implemented to the letter. He says his committee remains the first serious step taken by the Federal Government of
Nigeria to bring into one volume, the various reports on the travails of the Niger Delta region.
"Some have said with some justification that we have had so many reports and studies that we do not require any more", observed Mittee, "But it is equally true that almost all of the previous reports only dwell on different interpretations of this history.
This Committee, in my view, is the first single attempt to put all these different perspectives into a single document and I hope that the current exercise by this Committee serves as an opportunity to act on lessons ignored, identify vital opportunities, and focus on fundamental Issues", he said.
He posited in the Press Statement, that in the face of frustrations and burning sense of injustice pervading in the region, coupled with attacks on oil installations, kidnappings, ritual killings and other activities that have heightened insecurity in the area with its equally devastating economic impact, "has often ignore the starkest evidence before our eyes of how severe and counterproductive these have had on our national economy and international standing"
He then advised that, "as we find ourselves looking not just at how to address past inadequacies but, how to address problems that have worsened over recent years, this nation must come to terms that the issue we are confronted with is not a 'Niger delta' problem but a national, albeit, international problem".
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