By Jimitota Onoyume

PORT HARCOURT—The Federal Government has blamed the nation’s over dependence on oil for the economic downturn and high level of corruption in the country.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State at the opening of the Partners For Sustainable Development Forum being funded by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, said, the oil economy was also largely responsible for agitations for resource control by people of the Niger Delta region and the emergence of what he tagged  a redundant human resource base.

Commending the NDDC for gathering stakeholders to discuss issues of development of the region, the Vice President said the event was timely.

Osinbajo, represented by Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Ade Ipaye, assured that the Federal Government would  continue to give special attention to the region.

He said: “The development of the Niger Delta region remains a priority of President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress, APC, government. The President has repeatedly emphasised that devastation and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta must be attended to.”

He appealed for an end to militancy, terrorism and other related challenges of insecurity, stressing that development could only take place in a peaceful atmosphere.

Appealing for collaboration among stakeholders to tackle matters of underdevelopment in the region, he said government was encouraging the growth of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, expressing the hope that the move would further create a robust economy.