FG to reduce military presence in N/Delta

26.03.2008

A programme of action for specific time frame will soon be initiated by the Federal Government to check the recurring crisis in the Niger Delta area.

The programme will include the scaling down of military persons, a high level council officials visit to the region and on all-inclusive conference.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, stated this in Abuja at the opening of a two-day meeting of the Guard of Energy and Security Strategy.

The first meeting held in the Hague, Netherlands, noted that job creation in the area was necessary to stopping hostility in the region.

Alhaji Kingibe said the Federal Government was intensifying efforts in bringing peace and progress to the Niger Delta.

“The current government is dedicated and concerned and worried about means of sustained development and progress in that area, and to use the resources of the nation to develop that area,” he said.

The chairman, board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ambassador Sam Edem, said with the current harmonisation of the 2008 budget, the crisis in the area would be reduced.

“For the first time in the history of Niger Delta region, the Federal Government, state government, and the NDDC are having harmonised budget under the master plan of the national development,” Edem said.