The Presidency has denied scrapping the Niger Delta Ministry, noting that it was only renamed.
The clarification comes after a number of Niger Delta leaders opposed the reported scrapping of the ministry, with Edwin Clark, elder statesman, arguing that Niger Delta people would not accept the move.
Clark had urged President Tinubu to explain to the people of the Niger Delta why he scrapped the ministry.
Furthermore, Chief Clark alleged that the federal government was planning to use the resources of the South-South zone to fund other zonal development commissions.
But, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, said the Ministry of Niger Delta Development was renamed Ministry of Regional Development.
He spoke to newsmen after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.
Also, the minister of the newly-created Ministry of Regional Development, Engr. Abubakar Momoh, who was in charge of the former Ministry of Niger Delta Development, clarified that the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, was still in place.
He explained that the Ministry of Niger Delta Development was renamed and given a greater responsibility under the Ministry of Regional Development.
He said the new ministry was created to supervise all the agencies under the Ministry of Niger Delta Development and other regional commissions in the country.
He said: “For our people over there in the Niger Delta region, I would like them to know that, that has not removed anything from them.
“The NDDC is still very much in place, which is still under the Ministry of Regional Development and all other such agencies are there. It’s just a question of change of nomenclature.”
He advised that nobody from the Niger Delta region should feel that the Ministry of Niger Delta has been scrapped, and no longer exists.
“All the structures and everything about the Niger Delta remains. It’s just a change of nomenclature and, of course, expansion of activities of the ministry.
“So I think it’s something worthy of commendation.”
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