Jos — Former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Gen. Jerry Useni (rtd) has said the creation of the Niger Delta ministry by the President Umaru Yar'Adua administration would create more problems in the region than it would solve. Useni who spoke with newsmen in Jos yesterday said rather than douse the tension in the region, the creation of the ministry has the tendency to worsen the problem as it would throw up more contentious issues to the fore.

He said the first problem that would arise from the creation of the ministry would be where to site the office, since according to him it would not be effective if sited in Abuja. He stressed that if it is agreed that the ministry should be sited in the Niger Delta region, then the problem of where exactly it should be sited among the states that make up the region would also come up as each of the states would like to have it sited in their capital.

He said this is added to the problem of who will head the ministry and the state he is to be picked from as he observed that this would on its own throw up another issue.

"All these have not been worked out; the nation has not been told how the government would go about this. So it is not a matter of coming up to make announcements and think that he problem would end there. No it is now that the problem would start. That is why we cannot sit down and be happy about it because we are still far from the finishing line."

The former governor of old Bendel State stressed that solving the Niger Delta problem does lie in the creation of a ministry, but in the provision basic infrastructure for the people of the region and attending to their economic needs. He added that if care is not taken, the recent measure taken by the government may go the way of other efforts before it where it is only the elites that benefit while the masses are left unattended to.

"They should look at the physical development. They should provide clean water, roads, other basic infrastructure and scholarship for their sons and daughters." He justified the rejection of Prof. Gambari as head of the reconciliation committee on the Niger Delta saying Gambari had no experience on the Niger Delta and cannot be called from London to take up such a sensitive job when there are people who have had experiences serving in the area and which the Niger Delta people respect that could have been appointed.