The Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs is more about political expediency and requires someone from an oil producing area within the Niger Delta region
Stakeholders from the Niger Delta region have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to appoint an indigene of the area as his Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
Chief Frank Oyosongo and Mr Godwin Edikan, Chairman and Secretary respectively of the Movement for the Protection of Oil Producing Communities in Niger Delta made the appeal on Sunday in Yenegoa.
In a statement, jointly signed, the stakeholders said that someone from the oil-producing areas understood the plight of the people and would be in the best position to advise the president.
They noted that the ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was more about political expediency and required someone from the area.
According to the stakeholders, by the Nigerian constitution, every state is entitled to produce a minister and the president had fulfilled that requirement.
They argued that each ministry would be manned by experts and a minister in the relevant field.
“The Ministry of Justice will always be manned by a lawyer…The Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs is more about political expediency and requires someone from an oil producing area within the Niger Delta region, ” they said.
They urged the president to “put square pegs in square holes” when allocating portfolios to his team of ministers.
“This is one of those responsibilities he must discharge to the satisfaction of well-meaning Nigerians and to the people of the Niger Delta region in particular,” the statement read. (NAN)