He made this commitment during a visit from the people of Okpameri Kingdom in Edo State, held in Abuja on Friday.

The event drew the presence of prominent figures, including HRH Oba R. O Alufah, Olowe the III, The Elekor of Ekor, and Mr. Samson Aturu, the President of the Okpameri Descendants Union (ODU), Abuja Chapter, among others.

In his role overseeing the development of over nine states in the Niger Delta region, Minister Momoh acknowledged the substantial challenges faced, with dilapidated roads being a major concern.

He emphasized that these infrastructural issues are pervasive across the nation, having suffered from prolonged neglect.

However, the Minister seized the opportunity to assure the public of the government’s readiness to take swift action in addressing these concerns.

He stressed the urgency of the situation and underscored the profound impact that road collapses have on the people of the Niger Delta.

Momoh revealed that he recently urged the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to promptly attend to the collapse of the Comprehensive High School Junction in the Edo North Senatorial District.

He further highlighted that the deteriorating road threatened to isolate the entire Akoko-Edo local government area (LGA).

He expressed confidence in the responsiveness and commitment of President Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu to improving the nation.

He believed that appropriate measures would be taken to address these challenges.

Samson Aturu, President of Okpameri Descendants Union (ODU), voiced his trust in the Niger-Delta Minister’s capability to rectify the infrastructural decay affecting the Edo North Senatorial District.

He commended the Tinubu administration’s dedication to infrastructural development, seeing it as a promising step towards resolving the longstanding issues faced by the Niger Delta region.

Aimanerimi Victor Arogunyo, the spokesperson of the group and Oselo of Okpameri Kingdom, took advantage of the visit to formally invite the Minister to the inaugural Okpameri Cultural Festival, scheduled to take place in December in Ibillo-Okpameri.

Bawa called for prudent use of government resources allocated to them by ensuring that monies released for specific projects are used for the same purpose.

The anti-graft chief, represented by Uzo Zonal Commander Hamidu Bawa, gave the advise at the 5th National Council on Niger Delta in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom.

The senior police officer vowed that the EFCC would always ensure that right things are done concerning the use of public funds.

Bawa noted that the statistics of abandoned NDDC projects in the South-South, and unremitted taxes were alarming.

“There’s a new sheriff in town. The NDDC must acknowledge this reality and know that it’s no longer business as usual.

“Some staff identified to have mismanaged and embezzled government resources have been prosecuted, convicted and proceeds of crime forfeited.”

He said EFCC would go after corrupt practices and appealed to officials to always do the right thing to avoid problems.

The chairman on participants and Nigerians to embrace the Whistle-blowing Policy of the Federal Government.

Bawa further implored agencies to emplace a confidential channel of reporting internal fraud and other forms of corruption.

Chairman of the Adhoc Committee on oil theft, Bassey Akpan, disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists on arrival at the Port Harcourt International Airport over the week.

Akpan lamented the massive stealing of Nigeria’s crude oil, saying it’s troubling.

He said the country had lost huge earnings and failed to meet the quota allocated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

He said, “Our intention is to visit every oil terminal in the Niger Delta region to see things for ourselves, the reason for oil theft, the reason for oil losses.

“We at the National Assembly believe that the local refining capacity as a result of all the bunkering issues can never be guaranteed or be sustained or be ensured by the losses.

“We believe that there are other areas where the country loses this huge revenue and resources. So it’s a serious job we are out here to do.”

The council said the notice is in line with the 30 days ultimatum handed to the Federal Government to inaugurate a substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The commission had been managed by an interim management committee but currently has a sole administrator.

At a press briefing, the president of the IYC, Peter Igbifa, asked the oil companies to shut down operations willingly.

He said “We are not going to carry a gun and chase anybody as Ijaw youths but we will stand on our right until our demand for the substantive board is inaugurated in the NDDC. In line with the ultimatum as the days are counting, we should have nine days remaining to go. All IOCs operating in our region should begin a peaceful and gentle evacuation of their personnel. It should be a very gentle and peaceful evacuation because we do not want anybody to take advantage of the shutdown. We want them to take responsibility of their personnel, remove them gently. If you have IOCs that operate flow stations, take the remaining days and time and shutdown them down gently by yourself. We are not coming to your flow station, shut them by yourself, we want you to shut the flames by yourself and vacate your personnel. Within these days remaining in the ultimatum, you can take three to four days to shut down and evacuate.”

It said despite spending over four years in government, Buhari is still allegedly treating some parts of Nigeria with bias.

IYC President, Pereotubo Oweilaemi, in a statement on Monday, said that Buhari’s policies and programmes were not for the benefit of the South-South and the South Eastern parts of the Country.

While making reference to the recent approval of N19b to construct roads in northern and western parts of the Country, Oweilaemi stressed that Buhari government didn’t take the Niger Delta region into consideration despite the deplorable states of the federal roads.

He, however, noted that in order to avoid economic crisis in the oil sector of the country, the government must treat every region with equal rights in its development, stating that Nigeria belongs to all.

According to the statement, he said: “Just recently on Wednesday the 27th of November, 2019, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of N19b to construct roads in northern and western parts of the Country. Despite the deplorable states of the federal roads in the Niger Delta region, none was considered by FEC.

“East-West road, Warri-Benin road, Benin Asaba road amongst many others are now death traps to road users. In fact, movement from Warri to Benin federal highway has been cut off as the road is completely damaged. Similarly, the East-West road is no longer motorable as some portions of the road, especially from Bayelsa to Rivers State axis has been damaged.

“Regrettably, these are the only roads that connect the Niger Delta to other regions. Even the Minister of Works is paying lip service to our plight as commuters are undergoing excruciating pains and agonies in plying these roads. Babatunde Fashola’s reference to the deplorable state of the Warri-Benin road as a mere media hype, is an insult to the Niger Delta people.

“If the South South or the Niger Delta region is part of Nigeria then President Buhari, his Minister of Works, Raji Babatunde Fashola, SAN and other top government functionaries should take a visit to the roads in the region from Cross River State down to Edo State and see things for themselves. From the way and manner the present government implements its policies and programmes, it appears that Buhari did not see Niger Delta region as part of Nigeria.

“The East-West road project which was awarded since 2006 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been completely abandoned by Buhari’s government. The present Government has displayed an unmitigated hatred for the Niger Delta people, perhaps due to our political leaning in the past elections.

“Niger Delta people cannot fold their arms and allow the Government to use the resources from their land to develop other regions, while they watch with grimace faces. The present Government should not by act or omission incites Nigerians against one another. You can’t claim to be propagating one Nigeria dream when some parts of the Country are not feeling the dividends of democracy under your watch.

“The ruling Government should have a rethink of its policies and programmes. The President’s actions and body language are polarising this Country along political-cum ethnoreligious lines. He should be a uniting factor and not one that keeps Nigerians further divided. If Buhari kept on allowing this political apathy and alienations against Niger Delta people to fester then we afraid that the existing peace in the oil sector may not be sustained in the long run.

“The signs are just there, staring us in the face. Mr. President should save this Country from another economic crisis in the oil sector. Nigeria belongs to all of us. We all have equal rights to development if we must continue to live as united partners.”