Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has unveiled a website, www.ndnewvision.gov.ng , for effective communication of President Muhammadu Buhari’s new vision for the Niger Delta. The official unveiling of the website was part of activities marking the 2018 World Environment Day at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Special Assistant to the Vice President on Communication Project, Mr. Arukaino Umukoro, who spoke to correspondent after the event, said the website is part of the communication strategy of the Niger Delta New Vision Team of the Office of the Vice President.
Umukoro said the website would “communicate effectively to the Niger Delta region and to the people of the country what the federal government is doing in terms of developing the Niger Delta through the new vision.”
According to him, the New Vision for the Niger Delta was designed as a partnership between state government, the federal government, local government, local communities and the private sector towards the development of the Niger Delta, where Nigeria’s fossil fuel deposits are found.
“Under the New Vision, a lot of things have been done by the federal government. For example the Maritime University has taken off and lectures have commenced. The Ogoni Cleanup, progress has been made; a lot more is going to be done. Two of the modular refineries would be set up in Rivers and Delta states and they will be inaugurated at the end of this year.”
Umukoro said the strategic implementation work plan of the New Vision for the Niger Delta provides a roadmap for the development of the region.
“This administration is doing something cogent to develop the region,” he said, adding that “unlike in the past when there were failed promises, this government is keeping its promises through the new vision and that’s what we intend to communicate with the Niger Delta New Vision website as part of communication strategy.”
Ogoni Cleanup
Also speaking, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Edobor Iyamu, said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has commenced a lot of activities in fulfillment of the 2011 Report of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP on the Ogoni cleanup.
Iyamu said the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, the agency in charge of the Ogoni cleanup, has carried out a number of medical health outreaches in the Niger Delta region as well as water contamination tests, which are among the preliminary activities that must be done before the cleanup.
He said over 120 companies that bidded for the project have been pre-qualified for the Ogoni cleanup.
“From the pre-qualification stage, the next stage now will be the technical and the commercial bid stage, which will happen in the next month or two,” Iyamu said.
He also said the actual remediation would commence immediately after these processes have been completed.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President said that militancy in the Niger Delta Region has been contained by the Buhari administration.
He said the administration was doing a lot to be in tune with all the agreements reached on the Niger Delta and to ensure that peace is maintained in the region.
