N’Delta: Businessman asks Buhari to adopt fresh approach

President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to address issues regarding the Niger Delta differently from his predecessors.

A stakeholder in the oil and gas sector, Chief Alfred Okoigun, said this in an interview on the sideline of an inauguration gala night organised for Buhari on Friday.

Okoigun, who is the Chief Executive Officer of ARCO Group Plc, urged Buhari to ensure that the people of Niger Delta get sound education, infrastructure and massive development.

He kicked against the idea of doling out money to the people of the area.

He said the President should focus more on developing the region.

He said, “The government should give proper training to the beneficiaries of amnesty programme and not to give one contractor one contract and he said he is training some people, he takes so much money and the people are really not benefiting much.

“So if this government addresses that and the people see that this is happening, they will be happy.”

He also called on the president to create the enabling environment for the nation’s economy to thrive.

“With his (Buhari) coming in, we have seen the euphoria that greeted it, everybody wants to identify because there is a lot of opportunity here. Before now, everyone was watching us squandering it and wondering what is wrong with us. But with the commitment coming from the president today I think is helping to motivate each and everyone of us.

“My expectation is for government to create that platform where one cannot hold back on one’s capabilities. You can aspire to be anything and you will be because you work hard and you can go far.

“But a situation where it is only when you know somebody that you can do something, it results in armed robbery, cultism, Boko Haram. But if you know your little effort will yield results, you will continue to work and you won’t care who is at the helm of affairs because the environment is making it possible.

“That is why we have to support the president and his team and other arms of government to succeed, we have to contribute our quota,” Okoigun said.