Thursday, October 12, 2006

Minister pledges speedy execution of Niger Delta housing scheme
From Florence Oretade, Abuja

A HOUSING blueprint for the Niger Delta presented to the Federal Government on Tuesday will be aggressively implemented, the Minister of Housing, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has assured.

advertisement

Receiving the report from the 15-man Federal Government Technical Committees on Housing Development for the Coastal States in Abuja, Mimiko said that the document would not be "left to gather dust on the shelf."

Mimiko said the development of the oil-rich region would go a long way in curbing the unrest in the area.

The government, he said, would not waste time in implementing the recommendation of the panel constituted to chart the course of solving the problem of housing in the Niger Delta.

He said: "Mr. President has demonstrated an incredible level of political will to address frontally the problem of the Niger Delta region. The solution to the region's housing has been brought to the front burner.

"A man that has a house is a fulfil man and the chances of his restiveness will also be reduced and we believe that the problem of housing in the Niger Delta can be tackled and I can assure you that Mr. President has the political will to do it."

Narrating the ordeal of the team during its visit to Kokokolo, a mangrove community in the Delta State, the panel's chairman, Mr. Fortune Ebbie, said the members saw the worst form of neglect in the area as the residents suffer in the midst of affluence.

According to him, the journey to the area on speedboat lasted for two hours before the members were paddled in a canoe covering one quarter of a kilometre followed by another one quarter kilometre walk in the mangrove before arriving in the village.

The village had no basic amenities and drink water from an 18-inche deep pond full of algae.

The village, he added, is surrounded by three oil wells but the residents send their wards to Sapele for primary education.

Ebbie charged the Federal Government not to allow the report to be treated shoddily.

Mimiko said the government would implement the panel's recommendations, including that of the stakeholders in the region.

The housing ministry, he said, would assume the role of leadership in the implementation of the report.

The committee, inaugurated on July 13, 2006, was to, among other things:

» Determine the communities in the coastal states of the Niger Delta to benefit from the intervention programme;

• determine the housing needs (type and number) for each state and possibly, community in the region; and

• determine the construction materials and the method of construction best suited to each state and where possible.