Niger Delta activist and member of the 2014 National Conference, Ms. Annkio Briggs, has said that the people of the South-South have no expectation of benefiting from the appointment of former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, as Minister of Transportation.
She said even though the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had allegedly blacklisted the Niger Delta on the list of areas that would benefit from the new government, people of the region have equal rights with those in other regions.
The activist said despite that the ministerial appointments were spread across the country, the President had given the most powerful public offices to northerners.
Briggs said, “If you look at the portfolios that have been given out, most of them that relate to political power are with the northern part of Nigeria. Look at the judiciary, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Department of State Services; many of the offices that are the engine room of political power are with northerners.
“When people say Southern Nigeria has the ‘juicy’ portfolios, what are the portfolios? The President himself is sitting on the Ministry of Petroleum and all the resources of the ministry is coming from the Niger Delta.
“As he sits on the ministry, it is the finance and the economy of the country that he’s sitting on. Amaechi has the transport ministry; what is the benefit of the ministry to the South-South? Do we have a railway that is working in the South-South? Is the East-West Road functioning from the beginning to the end? And the road is a Federal Government road; it is not a road for the Niger Delta people alone.”
She further said even though former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, has the Ministry of Power, the northerners see the South-West, South-East and the South-South as one South.
“Even if Fashola has the Ministry of Power, is it not the whole of Nigeria that he will be working for?
Is he going to give power supply to Lagos alone? What has that got to do with the claim that all the ‘juicy’ portfolios have gone to the South, when it is the North that will make the decision on how the judiciary and security of the nation will look like?” Briggs asked.
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