FEDERAL Government says the arena is now set for peace and development in the Niger-Delta and that in a little while, a negotiated blueprint that will detail and steer its intervention in the region will be produced.
Minister of Special Duties (Presidency), Mr. Godsday Orubebe told Vanguard in Benin City that the government has made wonderful headways in its recent discussions with Ijaw activists.
He declined details, saying: No, we can’t give any insight now; it was a close-door meeting. All what I can tell you is that significant progress have been made and that the stage is set for peace activities and, thereafter, programmes will set in motion the expected development, infrastructural and economic upliftment of the area will commence.
The minister said the Federal Government would draw out the format of the blueprint and these ideas would be given to the communities, local governments, oil companies and state governments to make their inputs before a national conference where everybody would, from the ideas that were collated, now say that we have agreed on the blueprint.
His words, “The format will be given to the communities and they will make their contributions, they will be given to local governments, they will be given to oil companies, they will be given to state governments and then, they will be a national conference where everybody from the idea being collated will come to say this is what we have agreed so that we will have a bible or document, which you would look at and say in 2009, this is what we are supposed to do in Delta State, this is what we are supposed to do in eh.., Edo State, who will do it and when is he supposed to do it, and this issue of general statement, the area is not developed, we don’t know who to hold responsible will not arise.
The youths, he explained, would have the part they would play, the communities would have their part and in the next two weeks, we will start the process and then, the final conference will take place in the next few months and that is why we included that the President will go round ad look at the places so that when we have the general conference, and before that conference, our team will also meet with the President.
Orubebe stated: “It is the general conference that will agree and say this is what we have found and so the question of whose duty it is to provide this service and when it’s to be provided will not be there, because if a particular body is the one to do something and they have not done it, we all know who is holding others back. So, this systematic way we want to come out with the blueprint is what has delayed in fact, if not the breakdown of the dialogue, today, we must have gone very far.