Kunle Kalejaye 16 September 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, says the Niger Delta region might lose $80 billion investment funds being put together by the government for projects in the region if people of the region do not embrace peace.
The minister, who said the money is being sourced from China for the development of the gas sub-sector, stated this while in the region to discuss the way out of the growing militancy in the area.
He said the only way the region could benefit from the new government was for them to work together with one united voice, adding that the $80 billion for the development of the gas sector in the region could only be utilised when there is peace.
He, therefore, called on Niger Delta elders to caution the youths and urged them to drop their arms so that development could come to the region, stating that militancy would never be a solution to the Niger Delta problem.
Kachickwu added that the only way the region could rise above its challenges was for the people to sit down and discuss what they really wanted.
According to him, the present government was looking at how to develop the region but is skeptical about injecting more funds into the troubled region.
He explained that his findings revealed that the Federal Government has injected over $40 billion into the Niger Delta region with nothing to show for it, adding that despite all the money injected into the various interventionist agencies to make the region better, the funds have been mismanaged by those put in charge.
While pledging his commitment to the Niger Delta struggle, Dr. Kachikwu added that the people could not afford not to develop the region in their life time.