Gbanraun communities defend president on contract award

REPRESENTATIVES of Gbanraun Kingdom in Bayelsa State have condemned recent insinuations by certain people in the polity that the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, during the last fiscal year, awarded about 80 per cent of projects/contracts in the country to the Niger Delta region.In a release jointly signed by Messrs Morris Okiakpe, Timothy Okiakpe, Macdonald Igbadiwei and Effie Bipeledei, on behalf of the Agadagba and Amananawei of Gbanraun Kingdom which consist 18 villages and 215 fishing settlements, they urged the leadership of the National Assembly to disregard the 'wolf cry'.According to the release, the allegation 'is part of the institutionalised and organised blackmail not only to smear the President Goodluck Jonathan administration but also to make Nigeria ungovernable and deter the development of the Niger Delta.'The people of the oil rich communities which has 182 oil wells asserted that in spite of the globally known fact that the Niger Delta region produces about 80 per cent of the total national income in Nigeria from crude oil production,'the region is one of the most difficult terrains in the world.''The oil cities of Bonny in River State, Brass and Gbanraun Kingdoms in Bayelsa State, Facados Escravos in Delta State,Orugbo Ijaw and Ilaje Kingdoms in Ondo State and Eket in Adkwa Ibom State, among others did not have good roads, national gridlock, standard academic and medical centers or unity college,' the leaders claimed.They were, however, grateful to the administrations of past leaders such as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and late Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua for creating interventional agencies such as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, as well as initiating the Amnesty Programme to fast-track the development of the area.They, therefore, call on the national assembly to embark on meaningful legislations that will further bring development to the entire people of the Niger Delta area.
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