By Stella Odueme
The Ministry of Niger Delta Development (MNDD) is exploring partnership opportunity with the European Union (EU) to deepen its engagement of evolving national development, policies and programmes in the Niger Delta Region.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Shuaib Belgore disclosed this during the inauguration of the Joint Steering Committee for “A Community Centered Approach to Transforming Criminality and Violence in the Niger Delta Region” in Abuja.
A statement by the Ministry’s Press and Public Relations at the weekend said that Belgore stated that the core objective of the collaboration is to work with the various state institutions and agencies of the Federal Government to achieve sustainable peace and security as well as intensify development activities in the region.
“In the light of our shared goals and vision for the region, the interactions with the European Union (EU) group through their partners has been impressive, re-assuring and speak volume of our determination to assist in the upliftment of the socio economic wellbeing of the good people of the region, ” he said.
Earlier in her remarks, Head, Programme Development, Quality and Reporting, Search for Common Ground (SCG), Gift Omoniwa maintained that the project is a response to the multi-dimensional conflict issues in the Niger Delta Region.
Omoniwa stated that in order to curtail the growing economic and human cost of criminality, the project is designed to address the fundamental social and economic drivers of criminality in the region, taking into account needs of the people, especially the youths, women and other vulnerable groups.
Others present at the event were MNDD management team, Mrs. Fatima Abubakar Madaki, Country Director, (SCG) and Mr. Bryn Wyana, Regional Project Manager/West Africa (SCG).
