From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has restated the commitment and determination of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration to solve the myriad of problems in the Niger Delta region through creation of jobs.
According to him, the decision of President Buhari to approve projects to states in the Niger Delta region is part of the concerted efforts at providing gainful employment that will solve the problems facing the region.
Chief Sylva, who made this known at Emeyal community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State during an inspection tour of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, (NCDMB), project under the Nigeria Oil & Gas Park Scheme, NOGAPS, assured the people that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has promised from the very beginning to bring jobs to THE Niger Delta people because he believes that it is jobs that will ultimately solve the problem of the Niger delta.
“The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had promised from the very beginning to bring jobs for our people because we believe that it is job that will ultimately solve the problem of the Niger Delta”.
“There are a lot of Niger Delta people that have no jobs, so as a responsible government one of the first thing we must do is to try to see how those very able bodied and qualified young people who are unemployed to be gainfully employed and I want to tell you that Mr president is very committed to this mandate.
“From what am seeing here a lot of the project are over 70% complete and so we are certain that within the life of this administration this project here will be commissioned. What we are trying to do here is to create opportunity for manufacturing of some of the parts that are needed in the oil industry. There is no reason why we would be importing everything including knots and bolts from outside Nigeria,” he said.
Sylva, who was accompanied by the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Mr. Simbi Wabote and other members of the NCDMB governing board after a meeting of the board at the NCDMB headquarters expressed satisfaction with the pace of work at the project site.
The Minister who also is a former governor of Bayelsa State commended the peaceful disposition of the host communities, stressing that if the community was not peaceful the job would not have progress to the stage it is.
Also speaking, Wabote, while commending President Buhari and Sylva for their support for the project, added that the progress so far recorded at the project site had been down to their support. He expressed confidence that the industrial park will be commissioned by the last quarter of next year.