*Gives Minister of N/Delta a marching order
By our Correspondent
President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has given to nod for the construction of the Warri-Escravos road and dredging of the three seaports in Delta State giving the Minister of Niger Delta a marching order to put a memo for immediate action.
President Bola Tinubu gave the marching order when a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief Ayiri Emami chairman and CEO of A & E Group paid a course visit to President Tinubu at the presidential villa in Abuja, Chief Ayiri disclosed this after his meeting with the President at the presidential villa, Abuja.
He said that President Tinubu expressed readiness to develop the region.
Emami, in a chat with newsmen said that President Tinubu gave the nod to the construction the n of the Warri-Escravos road and promised to get across to the GMD (group chief executive officer) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) for the relocation of oil pipelines for ease dredging of Warri, Koko, Sapele, and Burutu seaports.
“He asked the minister to go and put up his memo and come back on how they can go about it.
“You know, the Warri port has been abandoned , I complained to him about the pipe that is giving problems ”
“He said he is going to get across to the GMD (group chief executive officer) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NPCL) so that they will sit, and look into how they can relocate the pipe so that proper dredging can be carried out for vessel to flow into Warri”.
Speaking on the issues bothering seaports in Delta State, Emami said he also discussed the Warri Port, Koko Port, and Sapele Port.
He said: “Once pipe issues are sorted out because that’s where the problem is. If the pipes are not relocated, no matter the amount of dragging, or sweeping, it remains.”
According to him, he told President Tinubu that without adequate infrastructure in the Niger Delta region, the fight against criminality in the region would be ineffective and that the rate of oil theft in Delta state has significantly decreased by 80 percent.
According to him, the president had promised that once he was elected, he would ensure that the Warri/Escravos road was constructed and dredging seaports in the state.
“So, I came here with the minister for Niger Delta so that they can put heads together on how that road can be constructed for us which gave a nod,” Emami said.
According to Emami, oil-producing communities are working with the federal government to stop oil theft, adding that the region’s relevant stakeholders’ actions have made a significant difference in the decline in oil theft.
“Currently, I know of Delta, I can speak around Delta state that the issue of oil heft is drastically going down, it has reduced to about 80 to 90 percent because the company handling the job at the moment and some of us are involved and the job is being handled properly,” Emami said.
“To some extent, we’re doing good in Delta and some of these communities, the actors are being carried along. But we still want them to do more. Not just giving contracts these people need good roads, good water, electricity, and a good hospital.
“Once those things are in place in that environment, you won’t believe if you go to somewhere like Escravos to get to the shore is a problem. So we need to sit down with the PIA, we need to sit down to see what we can do.”
Emami, who also doubles as Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom, said fighting criminality in the Niger Delta without putting in place infrastructure in the region will not achieve any results.
“I don’t think fighting all these criminality issues without putting in proper infrastructure, will work, it won’t work. But telling the President you need to do this as given some of us coming out to agitate strongly to tell our brothers that there is no need to go into breaking of pipelines,” he said.
“But we just need to do that, we just need to fix the communities because that is the place that lays the golden eggs but if you go to that place it is like hell. I do my things in different ways, I go with protests.
“I will not encourage anybody to go and break federal government facilities or to go and break pipes.
“Once you do that the federal government will use that same money that they want to use to develop the place, they will use it to go and fix the pipe first. So Penny wise, Pound foolish.
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