President Umaru Yar�Adua, on Wednesday, said he would soon summon governors of the nine Niger Delta states to the State House over the implementation of the Niger Delta Master Plan.
The modalities for the budgeting and coordination of the master plan are expected to be worked out at the meeting.
The President also promised to invite the Chairman and the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission to the meeting.
The master plan, which was inaugurated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2007, is a holistic agenda that seeks to provide a sustainable solution to developmental problems in the Niger Delta.
Yar�Adua announced this after the board of the NDDC briefed him in the State House.
�I will call a meeting of my Vice-President, the nine coastal governors and the NDDC management to discuss the issue of budgeting and coordination of the execution of the master plan. If we need to deepen it, we will do so, but you cannot achieve the plan, without a coordinated approach to its implementation.
�If the concerned states and local governments will be part of the funding of the master plan, you need a mechanism for that, and they have to be involved through consultation as early as possible,� the President said.
He also said that a Niger Delta summit would be held to address all issues affecting the area.
Earlier, the NDDC Chairman, Ambassador Sam Edem, had told the President that over 4,000 kilometers of roads had been constructed, 339 electrification projects completed and medical outreaches made to over 300,000 citizens in the region.
Also on Wednesday, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission made a presentation on the way forward for sustainable development of the country�s power sector to the President.
The commission called for an enabling environment to attract more foreign investments into the sector.
The NERC Chairman, Dr. Ransome Owan, said there was need for payment discipline among power consumers and diversification of the nation�s power mix through coal plants, solar and wind generation.
Yar�Adua had expressed concern about power situation in the country.
Speaking with newsmen after the briefing, Owan said, �We met with Mr. President to discuss the way forward in solving our problems in the power sector. We presented 19 points to Mr. President on the way forward, which include staying the course in the process of reforms in the power sector, and helping us with incentives so that we can lower the cost for power producers in the country.
�The power sector is very expensive and to date we have given licences to independent power producers who are all Nigerian companies that are promising to provide 8,000 megawatts of power, which will cost over $8bn.�