The Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has listed exclusion, politicisation of issues and insincere agitators as some of the hurdles that have hindered development in the Niger Delta region.

The NIMASA boss spoke at a town hall meeting Nigeria’s Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, held with members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

Peterside said for the Niger Delta to achieve desired development, there must be inclusiveness and platform for varying opinions to be harmonised and presented to the Federal Government for meaningful outcome.

According to him, “There must be inclusiveness and desire to hold meaningful engagement with all strata and spectrum of all Niger Delta society.”

Dr Peterside regretted that politicisation of the people’s struggle is a major roadblock to actualisation of Niger Delta Development, just as he berated the Rivers State Governor for excluding several stakeholders from the event that took place in Government House.

“Unfortunately but true, majority of authentic Rivers stakeholders were excluded from the political jamboree that took place yesterday in Government House. Wike is busy politicising the Niger Delta struggle.

“Rivers State is in development ICU (Intensive Care Unit) where the present government is reversing all the gains of the immediate past administration. We have the unenviable record of being the state that is number one insecurity,” he lamented.

Rather than galvanising Rivers’ interest into a common purpose, he said that the government has been culpable in militancy and criminality bedeviling the state, thus scaring away investors.

The former House of Representatives member accused those he called “Niger Delta agitation contractors” of not genuinely representing the interest of the people but are more interested in feathering their nests to the exclusion of vast majority.

He commended the Acting President for meeting with APC members in the state, saying: “The forum provides alternative platform to give every person opportunity to contribute ideas, knowledge & energy to re engineer the development of the Niger Delta.”

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