Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said that Niger Delta remains the main area for oil production and development in Nigeria. Wike stated this, weekend, during the launch of “Defiant Embers”, a documentary highlighting the economic opportunities in the Niger Delta, organized by the British High Commission in Nigeria at Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt.
The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr. (Mrs.) Ipalibo Harry Banigo, said despite the fact that the oil-rich region is the source of 70 percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, over 70 percent of the population in the region live on an average of less than US$2 a day.
According to him, Rivers produces 40 percent of Nigerian oil and 60 percent of Nigerian gas with a per capita income of $3,965, which compares favourably with the national per capita of $2,640.
Wike noted that lack of attention by the Federal Government to the dredging of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Wharf had led to several job losses for Niger Delta youths, thereby increasing youth restiveness and unemployment.
He lamented the deplorable condition of the East-West Road leading to the Oil and Gas Free Zone, Onne, saying it has rendered the region moribund with a large pool of skilled and unskilled manpower in the state.
Wike disclosed that his administration has initiated a RIVSJOBS platform which keeps a database that enables employers and job seekers to interface.
This, he said, was in addition to massive road infrastructural development which has effectively opened up all of Port Harcourt metropolis, making it more investor-friendly with improved security outlay.
Wike, while commending the British High Commissioner and his team at the British High Commission, Abuja, for the laudable initiative of raising economic consciousness in the Niger Delta through the documentary, however, expressed the need for Nigeria to have free, fair and credible polls in 2019.
“As we cannot also separate economic opportunities in the Niger Delta from a stable democratic process, it is needful to advocate for the conduct of transparent and credible elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the entrenchment of the statutory role of the security agencies to provide the enabling environment for a free and fair elections”, he stressed.