Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, has criticised the exclusion of Niger Delta region from the infrastructural projects to be built with the $308 million loot of Ex-Head of State, General Sanni Abacha. Chief Edwin Clark who is the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and also an elder statesman maintained that the Abacha loots were proceeds of oil and gas produced in the Niger Delta region and therefore should be invested in infrastructure development of the South-South zone.
Clark, in a statement he issued from London, agitated that the Niger Delta region had been marginalised and had no fresh Federal infrastructure project ongoing, he therefore urged the Federal Government to plough the Abacha’s loot back into the region.
The statement read in part, “I congratulate Buhari on the recovery of another Abacha loot to the tune of $308 million. I, however, observed that again, the Niger Delta region is left out in the infrastructural development in the country both in the 2020 budget of the Federal Government and in the distribution of the recovered Abacha loot for infrastructural development.”
“I noticed that the only road projects to benefit from the recent Abacha loot are the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (Western Region), the Abuja–Kano Road (Northern Region) and the Second Niger Bridge (Eastern Region) which is meant for the eastern part of the country, even though it starts from Asaba in Delta State.
“This, indeed, is a demonstration of Federal Government’s repeated and deliberate neglect of the Niger Delta region, even though the Abacha loot came substantially from the region.” he stated.
“It must be admitted that the revenue that accrued to the Federal Government, which was deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), from where Abacha looted them is the product of oil and gas revenue derived from the Niger Delta region,” the statement expressed further.
“But the Federal Government, has again, deliberately abandoned the East West Road, which is the most important economic road in the country. It was started over 10 years ago, even when the collapsed part of the road had been left to the state governments of the region to fix, particularly the recent total collapse of the Benin, Edo State to Warri in Delta State sections.
“The question should then be that, is the Niger Delta not part of Nigeria? It is indeed most offensive and insulting to the people of the Region when in response to our complaints and agitations, some politicians who were never voted for reply that the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) were given to us, and yet we complain,” he stated.
He maintained that “marginalisation, oppression, injustice and neglect of the Niger Delta Region should not be allowed to continue and that the people of the Region demand that the Federal Government include the completion of the East West Road as one of the major infrastructure projects to be developed with the Abacha loot.”
In conclusion, he stated that, “Nigerians were not satisfied with similar Abacha loot recovered from Geneva as to how it was expended. It is, therefore, very gratifying that this particular loot is being tied to road infrastructural development in the country. The Niger Delta region should not be left out please.”
