By Chesa Chesa
Checking criminality and insecurity in the Niger Delta will remain difficult without putting in place more socioeconomic infrastructure in the region, says prominent entrepreneur and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ayiri Emami.
Emami bared his mind on the issue on Monday when he spoke to State House correspondents shortly after he met behind closed doors with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Asked on how the oil-producing communities are collaborating with the federal government to nip oil theft in the bud, Emami said that the efforts of relevant stakeholders in the area have contributed to the drastic reduction of oil theft.
He said, “I can speak around Delta state that the issue of oil theft has drastically gone down. It has been reduced to about 80 to 90% because the company handling the job at the moment and some of us are involved and the job is being handled properly.
“To some extent, we’re doing good in Delta and some of these communities. The actors are being carried along. But we still want them to do more. Not just giving contracts. These people need good roads, good water, electricity, and good hospitals.
Emami stressed that fighting criminality without putting proper infrastructure in the region will not work.
He said he informed the President of the need for more infrastructural development of the communities and further support from the government to develop the region.
Emanu lamented the deplorable infrastructure in his home of Delta State, especially the road from Warri to Escravos and pointed out the need to dredge the Koko and Warri ports.
He recalled that the President during his election campaigns, promised to tackle some of the issues peculiar to the region once he got into office, and one of those issues has to do with the road from Warri to Escravos.
The other issue according to Emami has to do with politics, personal issues and the immediate environment.
“You know the Warri port has been an issue to date and I made a complaint to him about the pipe that is giving us problems. The President said he is going to get across to the Group’s Chief Executive Officer so that they will sit and look at how they can relocate the pipe so that proper dredging can be carried out for vessels to flow into Warri. So these are the issues why I came to see him.”
Asked whether he discussed Koko port and other things with President Tinubu, Emami said that the issues of Koko and Warri ports were well discussed with the President.
“Definitely once you talk about Warri port, you will talk about Koko port, Sapele port. The pipe is where the problem is. If you don’t relocate those pipes, it will remain the problem. So, he needs to see what they can do and he has promised that he is going to call the Minister for Petroleum and see what they can do immediately with the GMD.”
