From: Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

Some Niger Delta youths under the aegis of Niger Delta Youth Governance Monitoring Group (NDYGMG)  have called for the sack of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Usani Usani.

The youths, in a statement, criticised Usani and his ministry for the shoddy preparation and poor outing at the just concluded National Council on Niger Delta held, in Akure, Ondo State.

Director of Press Affairs of the group, Mr. Emmanuel U. Justin, in the statement, condemned the disharmony between Usani and stakeholders in the Niger Delta region which, he said, led to poor attendance at the meeting.

The youths noted that it was regrettable that the ministry opposed participation of youth leaders who were invited to participate in the meeting.

According to the group, youths who form the majority in the Niger Delta region, were deliberately excluded, a pointer that he (Usani) lacked popularity and the interest of the people he is supposed to represent in government.

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It noted that the council’s inability to form the requisite quorum to enable it formulate policy direction to drive the ministry was a clear display of incompetence and hence rendered the whole exercise a nullity and illegal.

The group further took a swipe at  Usani over its suggestion that the Niger Delta masterplan developed by seasoned technocrats at great cost and commitment over the years has been jettisoned.

It therefore called on President Mohammadu Buhari to shop for a more competent Niger Deltan to pilot the affairs of the Ministry.

The statement read in part: “No other minister from the region, National Assembly member, representative of International Oil company, or governors from the region were present at the Akure Council meeting.

“This was a far cry from the inaugural edition which held at Uyo in 2013 and which had all the relevant stakeholders in attendance NDYGMG therefore calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to regig his Niger Delta tool box if the federal government is desirous of developing the Niger Delta region.”