The Interview Editors
The federal government has said that up to 9,000 abandoned projects the Niger Delta region will be completed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
According to the Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who disclosed this on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, the government would also build nine housing estates in the region.
He added that the FEC meeting presided over by Buhari, approved the projects, including skill acquisition centres that would be built in each of the states in the region.
The minister, who said the Niger Delta Development Commission was being repositioned for better performance, stated that he briefed Council on the programmes of his ministry.
He stated, “We briefed the Council today on the number of people that are so far being empowered.
“About 1,600 people have been empowered. And some of them with different skills through the skill acquisition programmes. We are building one skills acquisition centre, one per state in the Niger Delta.
“Many of them are at 80 or 90 per cent stage of completion. It encompasses about 88 units. So, it is almost like a technical college with accommodation and other facilities.
“We are also doing what we call nine estates in the Niger Delta region from the ministry perspective to also add value to available housing by the federal government policy
“We are also positioning the NDDC to focus on legacy projects to leave behind something for the Niger Deltans.
“We also hope to complete the over 9,000 projects that are lying fallow in the Niger Delta region for the benefit of the people.
“We talked also about what is going in terms of remediation, aside from the Ogoni clean-up.”
The Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Ramatu Aliyu, also told reporters that she briefed the meeting on the plan of the FCT administration provide 5,000 new housing units in the area.
