28 May 2014, Abuja – DESPERATE attempts by northern delegates at the ongoing national conference to adopt a proposal for scrapping the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, hit the brickwall as delegates overwhelmingly opposed the proposal.
The North, in a position submitted by Professor Aishatu Madawaki, a delegate from Sokoto State, said the existing ministry and agency were a duplication of functions of the Federal Ministry of Environment, since they were equally doing similar functions.
They proposed that in a situation where the ministry and agency were allowed to remain, then a similar body be created equally for the northern region to take care of its soil erosion, desert encroachment, desertification and deforestation, among other issues in the region.
But the proposal did not sail through as delegates opposed it.
*Josephine Erunke & Levinus Nwabughiogude – Vanguard