By Oghenekevwe Laba
Amidst criticism from section of Nigerian on the non performance his Ministry, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe has unfolds series of achievements made by his ministry since its inception in 2008.
The Minister also defended the role his Ministry had played in the ongoing construction of East-West road which link Benin through Warri, Ughelli, Patani, Yenogoa to Port Harcourt.
Rolling out the achievements of his Ministry in a press release titled, “ Elder Godsday Orubebe’s Niger Delta and the Challenges Besetting the East-West Road”, extracted from Elder Godsday Orubebe Facebook page, the Minister pointed out that the creation of Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has brought to the consciousness and knowledge of Niger Deltans the true meaning and reality of infrastructural transformation in the midst of prevailing natural setbacks which has been highlighted as the bane behind the environmental and infrastructural decadence suffered for decades.
He added that the Ministry over the years has embarked on landslide projects mostly on Roads, Bridges and affordable Housing facilities in all the Nine States of the region which are aimed at improving the socio-economic lifestyle of both residents and natives.
“The Ministry has played significant roles in the region through the areas of Human Capital Development and Education, thus prioritizing the needs of the less privileged through
Job creation, wealth creation and Local content generation anchored skill acquisition centres sited all over the region.
“The Vagaries of achievements are evident enough for the due assimilation, evaluation and appreciation undermining the destructive criticism of some unpatriotic few that may not be far from political interests/vendetta and unnecessary witch-haunting. Thus achieving the aims and vision of the Ministry which includes to oversee the implementation of Government policies on the development and security of the Niger Delta region, coordinate the formulation of the development plan for the region, formulate policies and programmes for youth mobilization in the Niger Delta region, advice Government on security issues concerning the region and iaise with relevant Government, non-government and private sector organizations.
”Others are formulate and coordinate policies for environmental management, liaise with host communities for the enhancement of the welfare of the people and the development of the region, facilitate sector involvement in the region and plan and supervise programmes on public education/enlightenment among others.
He said the East-West dual carriageway project awarded in 2006 by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration of which technical design should have taken about one-year, but was hurriedly done within two weeks.
“When the contract was awarded in 2006, only a paltry sum of N1.2 billion was paid as mobilization fee to the contractors, and in 2009, when the project was handed over to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs by the Federal Ministry of Works, only 10 per cent of work had
been done.
“In 2010 I sat down with my team and we did a feasibility study and re-designed the road and now you can see significant progress in terms of construction. I inherited the inadequacies of the defunct contract at transfer and using the unspent funds left in the defunct Section II contract as contract ceiling, re-awarded Section II, with the scope of works unchanged to Messrs. Setraco Nig. Ltd. in April/May 2009 in two sub sections, namely: Section II Sub Section I: Port Harcourt – Ahoada (47km) at a contract sum of N29.92 billion with a completion period of 48 months and Section II Sub Section II: Ahoada – Kaiama (54Km) at a Contract sum of N44.883 billion with a completion period of 36 months,” he said.