The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro says President Bola Tinubu has a strong political will to support the sustainable development, stability and peace of the Niger Delta.

This was just as Otuaro stated that people and stakeholders from the Niger Delta have a vital role to play in ensuring the progress of the region.

He said this at the 2024 Technical Session of the Niger Delta Stakeholders’ Summit organised by the NDDC in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Wednesday, July 10, 2024.

Otuaro expressed confidence in Tinubu’s commitment to the accelerated progress of the region, stressing that the president would not disappoint the people.

The PAP boss, however, stressed that without stakeholders and community people contributing their quota to peaceful initiatives, sustainable growth and development could elude the communities in the area.

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He emphasised that it was for this reason that the PAP penultimate week held a four-day stakeholders’ engagement in Warri, Delta State, to drive home Tinubu’s desire for sustained peace and growth of the region under his ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda.

Otuaro, while underscoring the important place of stakeholders in the development process of communities, advocated that project designs and contract models should take into consideration the peculiarities of riverine and upland communities.

Otuaro said: “Mr President has the political will to support the development of the Niger Delta. We know that he will not disappoint us but, we, as community people and stakeholders, have a role to play because this peace we are talking is for us, comes first, before oil. When there is no peace in our villages, many of us will not be able to go to our villages.

“Therefore, stakeholders’ engagement is a critical part in the design of community projects. The management of the NDDC knows the critical role of peace and stability for the development of the Niger Delta.

“Peace, security, and stability have to do with the stakeholders, including the traditional rulers, youths, women and others, many of whom were alienated from the activities of the NDDC. And people don’t really know what is happening.”

The PAP boss, therefore, urged all stakeholders to take advantage of the NDDC stakeholders’ summit to encourage the interventionist agency to deliver on its objectives for the region.

The Star