A major highlight of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet reshuffle last week was the scrapping of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and creation of Ministry of Regional Development. The president effected his anticipated government rejig, sacking six ministers, appointing seven new ones, reassigning ten and scrapping two, including the Ministry of Sports.

Some Niger Delta stakeholders, notably Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, kicked against the abolition of the Niger Delta Ministry, which was created by the regime of the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua as a concession to end militancy in the oil producing region. Since the creation of the Ministry and others such as the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, and the continued funding of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, relative peace has returned to the Niger Delta.

The scrapping of the Ministry of the Niger Delta and creation of the Regional Development Ministry should not in any way be construed by the Federal Government or Niger Delta stakeholders as a means of whittling down efforts to foster development and maintain peace in the oil producing region. We see this as a paradigm shift necessitated by the need to create a federally-funded development agenda for the six geopolitical zones. This shift is noble, provided it does not lead to the deprivation of the Niger Delta.

We strongly kick against the apparent move to model the NDDC as the Development Commission for the South-South as erroneously insinuated by a presidential spokesman.

The NDDC is by law dedicated to the development of oil producing areas. It is not a regional agency per se. Currently, NDDC covers nine states – Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Edo in the South-South; Abia and Imo in the South-East and Ondo in the South-West. More states, such as Anambra, Kogi and Lagos are expected to join the NDDC when they begin to produce oil in commercial quantities. It is a total misnomer to position the NDDC as a South-South affair.

For Tinubu’s Regional Development Ministry to meet the expectations of Nigerians, it must foster equity and even development. To achieve this, all the six geopolitical zones must have their respective development commissions to tackle their peculiar needs through federal intervention.

Towards this end, we expect the National Assembly to quickly complete the process of forwarding bills to President Tinubu for the creation of South-South Development Commission, SSDC, and North-Central Development Commission, NCDC, to join already legislatively established Commissions for the North-East, North-West, South-East and South-West.

We also expect the National Assembly to adopt an eagle-eyed approach to ensure that funding and execution of projects are not discriminatory or allowed to be hijacked by sectional irredentists or corrupt officials.

Equity or even development must be the watchword.