By Rotimi Ajayi, Regional Editor

In 2009, when Elder Godsday Orubebe, Minister of Niger Affairs, spoke in Copenhagen, Denmark about his passion to swiftly and promptly bring up sustainable, holistic development of the Niger Delta region, I sympathised with him.

I knew that the urgency behind his desire was borne out of the pressure from the militancy in the area. Orubebe knows how it feels coming from one of the Niger Delta states.

However, his passion must have made him to underestimate the extent of the work he was saddled with and the duration such work would take to be physically appreciated by the people. Unfortunately Orubebe forgot one fact: That he is a human being and not a magician.

Created in September 2008, just a year before the Minister spoke about his readiness to “hit the ground running”, the Ministry took off without any blueprint on what to do in the whole region which had been criminally neglected for over five decades by every stakeholder, especially the oil companies which have been operating in the area for years.

The neglect had left deep scars of environmental destruction, facilities degradation, poverty aggravation and raping of the psyche of the people.

With the blueprint developed and the framework of implementation built, project implementation to make the blueprint a reality commenced. To the Director of Regional Integration in the Ministry, Mrs Rose Maranzu: “The master-plan will bring succour to the impoverished region”.

Niger Delta Minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe and team inspecting the Skill Acquisition Centre project in Akpabuyo, C-River State

According to her, several transformational projects are going on in the region in spite of the challenges of the Ministry. These projects are in the area of road construction, water supply, electricity supply, housing and urban development as well as skill development for the youths.

Some of the projects that are currently being executed across the region by the Ministry include East West Road, Elele-Owerri Road, Obahia Akwete-Etinam Road, Port Harcourt-Okobo-Okoanfa Aba Road, Onne Free Zone Nchia-Afam-Imo River Road, Okpuala-Iguruta Road, Benin-Abraka Road, and Orhorho-Odorubuo Kpakiama-Bomadi Road.

Others include Ogriageme Torugbene Road, Omelama-Agada 11 Road,OkpuhuteMbato Junction-Orie Market-Lomara Road, Emakalakala-Akepala Road, while many environmental remediation projects are also being undertaken in line with the masterplan.

r-l: Orubebe with Minister of State, Zainab Kuchi, on a speedboat from Oron in Akwa Ibom to inspect projects in Calabar, Cross River.

Many of these environmental remediation projects would address the negative effect of oil exploitation activities in the area.

The environmental remediation projects are in form of land reclamation and shoreline protection in Ogbobagbane, Delta State, and erosion control in Igbontor-Igbake as well as Oyomo/Okhelen Awe Road in Uromi Edo State; canalisation of Bateren Tselu-Utanoyibo Creek in Warri, canalisation of Odoubou-Boloutou Creek; same with Ogbobagbene and Foupolo-Bulou Creek in Burutu, erosion control work in Ogudu Community of Abia State, Ikuru Commlmity of Rivers, Ibout-Utan, Effiat Commlmities, Ibankang Nssit-Ekot Ekpo-Unyehe Road in Akwa Ibom and Essein Ekorimin community in Cross River State.

Apart from the above projects, a number of water supply projects in Idoro-Itam, Owerri, and Ubane Utanga as well as electricity projects in Khana, Eleme, Eri and Peremabiri Obokiri in Akassa are being handled simultaneously.

Minister of State, Zainab Kuchi answering questions from newsmen while the Minister, Elder Orubebe, and others watch

Given the fact that budget performance in terms of releases has been poor since the current administration took over in 2009, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs can certainly thumb its chest as one of the very few extraordinarily perforrning ministries at the Federal level.

Although much has been said by the Jonathan administration about promoting the cause of the Niger-Delta, the disposition to actually financing the implementation of the Masterplan becomes a matter of concern. In 2011, the Ministry was give a budget envelope of just about N50 billion. This amount could barely tackle a few quality road projects within the region.

This is a major challenge which would need to be tackled through approaching private sector concerns.

The Ministry would certainly need more than it is being given now if it has to meet the challenges of development in that area.

The minister and his entourage on inspection tour of a land reclamation project at Krutiye Community, Gbaramatu, Delta State

Perhaps, one crucial way to side-stepping the financial shortfall is for states to actively collaborate with the Federal Government in developing this area. This is a major task that the Minister may need to undertake.