Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, has urged foreign investors to invest in the Niger Delta region, which he argued now experiences relative peace owing to efforts by regional and the federal governments.
The governor also called on stakeholders in the region to address all the agitations of the people while the peace lasts, and gave a pass mark to the Umaru Yar�Adua administration which he is confident would resolve the Niger Delta problems.
Sylva spoke in Washington DC while briefing Nigeria�s Charge D� Affairs, Ambassador Usman Baraya, on his meeting earlier with officials of the State Department with whom he discussed several issues, including the need for more U.S. investments in the Deep South.
The governor, accompanied by top officials of his government, also met with American businessmen, non-government organisations, and representatives of the Ijaw communities from across the U.S.
“Stakeholders in the Niger Delta region should take the opportunity offered by recent successes in the efforts at halting violent activities in the area to come up with long-term solution to the agitation of the people,” he was quoted as saying.
“History has shown that development activities in the past usually hit the rocks because stakeholders failed to use periods of peace to address the people�s worries in order to forestall outbreak of violence.
“I am optimistic that the government of President Yar�Adua, would make a difference in view of its policies in the Niger Delta.”
Sylva said he was happy at the change in America of perceptions about Nigeria, hoping that the peace and commitment to resolving the region�s problems would make Washington respond favourably to issues concerning the Niger Delta.
He said his visit was a follow-up to the meetings earlier between Bayelsa and American officials at the Gulf of Guinea Security Conference in the Hague, the Netherlands, on the misinformation by the state�s opposition figures, which informed negative policies on the state by foreign governments.
Baraya praised the governor for the visit which he hoped would change the negative views about the region.
The ambassador urged other Nigerian governors to come around for the same purpose as Sylva�s. Such visit, backed by concrete achievements back home, would tell the world that Nigeria is now safe for foreign investments.