Niger Delta Is Where Govt Gets Most Of The Money – Osinbajo

SAN FRANCISCO, December 22, (THEWILL) – The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday acknowledged that the Niger Delta region is where Nigeria gets most of its money.

He identified the resurgence of militancy in the oil-rich region as one of the major challenges confronting the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Osinbajo stated this when he paid an unscheduled visit to the Mpape artisans' village in Abuja, Osinbajo

He admitted that the pace of the present government is slow, but stressed that progress had been made.

The Vice President also blamed the economic crisis on the “damages of the past”.

He told his audience of government's plan to develop small and medium scale enterprises, and to also create sustainable jobs.

Osinbajo,  who was accompanied by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said, “We are progressing but it is slow and the reason why it is slow is because there have been a lot of damages in the past.

“For instance, look at what is happening in the Niger Delta; that is where we get most of the money.

“But when the boys in the Niger Delta decided in blowing up the pipelines, production dropped from the two million barrels per day that we used to do to one million per day and we lost 60 per cent of what we used to earn from oil, that is partly responsible for the problem that you see today.

“We are trying to deal with the problem in the Niger Delta, address farming, industry and the economy so that this problem you are talking about will be fixed permanently.”

The Vice President urged the artisans not to despair, saying the government is focused on improving key sectors that would revive the economy and create jobs for them and other Nigerians.