Osinbajo meets Dickson, Diete-Spiff, unveils FG’s plans for Niger Delta

The Federal Government is promoting a new way of thinking and engagement that would secure the development of the Niger Delta and the entire country, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said.
He made this known on Tuesday in a meeting with a delegation from Bayelsa State, led by Governor Seriake Dickson.
He told the delegation, which included executives of the $3.6 billion Brass Fertilizer and Petro-Chemical Company expected to come on stream soon, that the new approach, called the New Vision, involved active and effective collaboration between government, the private sector and communities.
Osinbajo explained that “this approach will ensure that we finish whatever we start.”
He pointed to effective collaboration with the private sector and cited the NLNG as one instance of such effective collaborations.
He said the new approach was adopted “because only 12 per cent completion rate was recorded in many projects undertaken by Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in the past years, with the rest abandoned.
“The Buhari administration is committed to finishing whatever we start.”
In his comments, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, described the idea of the Brass Fertilizer and Petro-Chemical firm as “a game changer that we need to encourage.’’
The minister added that “such ideas have the potential to change the economic model in the Niger Delta.”
In his reaction, Dickson commended the Federal Government for citing a multi-billion dollar private sector-driven fertilizer and petrochemical plant in Brass.
With Dickson were the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, Commodore Alfred Diete-Spiff (rtd) and a team of private investors.
According to Dickson, “we are also here to discuss other issues concerning the take-off of the project”.
Brass is a Local Government Area in Bayelsa State, with headquarters in the town of Twon-Brass on Brass Island along the coast.
It has a coastline of approximately 90 km on the Bight of Bonny.
Dickson told state House Correspondents that the project would create enormous jobs and transform the economy of the state and the country at large.
The governor assured investors of adequate security.
“We came to discuss issues on the Brass Fertilizer Project billed to take off in Bayelsa. That is a big ticket investment running into billions of dollars.
“The government team is here, the traditional ruler is here because the project is taking place in his domain.
“We are here to assure the Federal Government and investors that Bayelsa, as they all know, is one of the safest states in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We have worked hard in the last five years I have been governor to bring that about.’’
 
The governor also commended the Federal Government for its new approach in pursuing integrated development in the country based on partnership and collaboration evidenced by the fertilizer plant.
 
Dickson noted that the Acting President’s dialogue on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari with  Niger Delta stakeholders, saying that a new understanding was emerging for the stability, security and development of the region.
 
“It is when we bring big ticket investments, create jobs and we affect the economy and create other legitimate options through which young people can survive that some of the crises that we see here will be addressed.
 
“This is a good way to begin to address that and that is why I am here to assure the Federal Government and investors for the steps so far taken.’’
 
The governor also commended the Federal Government for directing oil producing companies that did not have offices in Bayelsa to open offices in the state.
 
He recalled that the story of oil exploration began in Bayelsa but lamented that it was shocking that no oil company had an office in the state.
Dickson expressed concern that the state had been denied the economic benefits of oil production.
 
“There are no jobs, no employment, they don’t even pay much tax, and a number of them don’t even pay tax at all.
 
“The Federal Government has said that they should go back.
 
“So, we expect to work with the Federal Government and engage with all the oil producing companies to see how they can begin to have respectable presence.’’
 
Dickson also commended the Federal Government for its decision to establish modular refineries in the Niger Delta region.
 
Citing the NLNG as one of the plants in the region, Dickson said it was yielding a lot of revenue for the country as one of the most profitable partnerships the Federal Government had gone into.
 
“You have other big ones like the Gbarain/Obie gas plant project in Bayelsa owned by Shell, there are other ones.
 
“But this one is a fertilizer petrochemical company, And they will do a lot of skills development and skills transfer, a lot of jobs will be created and there will be a boom in the local economy, state economy and ultimately affect the national economy positively.’’
 
He said the Bayelsa government would engage the oil companies to ensure that they did their businesses without inhibitions.