The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, on Friday said the major problem hindering development in Niger Delta is the issues of militancy and kidnapping.
Amaechi said this at the sideline of the inspection of the Dualisation of the East-West road in Rivers on Friday and warned that if the youths of Niger Delta don’t stop militancy, it could lead to under-development of the region in the future.
He urged the youths in the region to be peaceful and stop kidnapping those on assignment to develop the region.
The minister explained that the issue of kidnapping of contractors on site was prominent in the region compared to other regions, which had increased the engagement of security personnel on site projects and cost.
Amaechi, however, noted that the Federal Government won’t wait for a particular region to be peaceful before embarking on development projects, saying that there are other regions that need developmental projects.
“I am not too happy with the militancy, you will see every contractor with soldiers and police and that is not the right thing to do.
“I am working as the Minister for Transportation on Lagos-Ibadan and no army or police is attached to the Chinese.
“Nobody is kidnapping them, no communal clashes, nobody is harassing them.
“But here, once you bring one project management everybody gathers. We must tell our young men that it cannot continue.
“If we do, other parts of the country will leave us behind. In the cabinet, nobody is looking at your face, they are looking at the country and if any part is not ready for development, other parts won’t wait for them.
“You cannot tell anybody from Igbo land to wait until you develop south-south, or anybody from Sokoto to wait until you develop Rivers state, no way,” he said.
He said that when Itakpe-Warri rail started, they kidnapped a black man, which was bad, urging the youths in the region to be peaceful and stop kidnapping those on assignment to develop the region.
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