17th September, 2019
A coalition of Niger Delta youths has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing ministers of high pedigree from the area and urged him to leverage their competence to achieve greater national development.
The youths, operating under the auspices of Niger Delta Youth Coalition for Peace and Progress (NDYPP), remarked in a statement signed by their President, Mr. Olayinka Tiedor, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Tuesday.
The group expressed delight that the president appointed credible leaders to drive his development plans. It stated that the appointment of competent ministers was an indication of the president’s genuine intentions to take Nigeria to the next level.
“Niger Delta Youth Coalition for Peace and Progress thanks Buhari for the appointment of well-grounded, distinguished sons of Niger Delta into his cabinet. These appointees are well-known achievers, whose appointment brought about wide-spread jubilation across party divide throughout the region, the group.
“Chief Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, is remembered for modifying the Amnesty Programme, which has restored peace to the region. He is a better person to drive progress in the oil and gas space.
“With Sen. Godswill Akpabio in charge of the Niger Delta Ministry, being supported by Festus Keyamo, another patriot with a passion for development, he will re-enact infrastructural revolution that marked his tenure as governor of Akwa Ibom.
“Rotimi Amaechi, well-loved by the Niger Delta youths for making giant strides in the infrastructural rebirth of the once-moribund railways, has a policy that will drive the rail system to a logical conclusion,’’ the group further stated.
It pledged to collaborate with the ministers to ensure that they had a conducive environment to develop the region and appealed to Sylva to lead the way.
“Sylva should quickly convene a strategic youth stakeholder’s policy-dialogue to point the direction of the federal government clearly and assertively so that everyone would queue behind him to achieve set targets. Sylva has earned the respect of Niger Delta youths because he has manifest passion for their well-being and he can tackle youth involvement in vandalism of pipelines and other violent acts.
“The dialogue can come up with clear policies and programmes that would stamp out violent behaviour from the creeks of the Niger Delta, by providing alternative legitimate means of livelihood for the people.
“Although he is still early in office, this is an auspicious time for him to engage the people to feel their pulse and tap from their pool of ideas. Such ideas can even turn things around for the good of all,” the group added.