By Godsave Tamuno
President Muhammadu Buhari will leave behind an unmatchable record of projects and reforms that will engender faster development in the Niger Delta region when he hands over to a new administration on May 29.
A chunk of his achievements were made public during a presentation by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, MNDA at the 12th edition of the Buhari administration scorecard series in Abuja.
According to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Umana Okon Umana, among the tangible projects include construction of 1,874km of roads, the completion of 44 electrification projects, and the provision of 162 potable water facilities in the Niger Delta region during the last seven years.
A further breakdown shows that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs completed more than 393km of the roads while the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) accounted for more than 1,481km.
The roads, water and electricity projects were delivered across the nine states of the Niger Delta region.
Also, during the period under review, both the MNDA and NDDC delivered 288 transformers, 11,411 solar-powered street lamp posts, 44 school projects, 17 agro-processing plants, 21 social centres, and 15 market stalls to the region.
Notably, a highpoint on the achievements of the administration was the completion of the head office building of the NDDC in Port Harcourt, and the construction of a multi-skills acquisition centre with 500-student boarding capacity in each of the nine states of the Niger Delta region.
Thus, it is safe to state that in the area of infrastructural development, the Buhari government has delivered 2, 786 hard projects, made up of 580 delivered by the Ministry and 2, 206 by the NDDC. These of course does not include social programmes.
Already, 6, 293 women and youths have been trained and empowered with cash and equipment worth N5.5 billion. Each of the trainees received cash support ranging from N300,000 to N500,000 and starter-packs.
Materials delivered to the trainees included tractors, tricycles, sewing, grinding and hair-dressing machines.
Among the trainees were 3,864 non-militant youths and women who were trained in agriculture and its value chain, while 224 motorized tillers were delivered to the farmers.
Training was also mounted for 75 youths in maritime dredging and photography. In all, about 5000 youths and community stakeholders were engaged in peace and security programmes during the period.
The administration undertook reforms as a key policy focus in order to tackle corruption, put an end to wanton looting of public funds, fast track and sustain development programmes in the region.
In effect, the reforms put in place by the outgoing President Buhari will doubtlessly make it easier for the incoming administration to build on an already prepared development framework.
To make it happen, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was mandated to harmonize various development plans into one holistic roadmap, and reposition the Niger Delta Development Commission for effective service delivery.
It would be wise therefore to allow the minister consolidate on this significant gain.
Meanwhile, the forensic audit ordered by government into the activities of the Commission and the subsequent publication in the media of both completed and cancelled projects under the Commission were part of the repositioning process for transparency and accountability.
The president had directed this major reform based on the recommendations of the forensic auditors, that contracts for 4000 projects should be terminated for non-performance. Of this number, the Minister, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, gave details of 1,250 having been published in the media, adding that more would be published.
In the same vein, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has deepened transparency and accountability with the publication of annual reports and a statistical digest on its operations, and promised to further strengthen good governance with the publication of compendiums of completed projects by both the Ministry and NDDC.
Although, President Buhari’s reforms came quite late in his administration, he has delivered on his promise concerning the development of the Niger Delta region.
Most especially, his reforms of the MNDA and NDDC, culminating in setting up the governing board of the NDDC according to extant laws, is highly commendable.
There is need however to consolidate on these gains in order to ensure sustainable development of the region.