IYC Backs NDDC’s Railway Project In Niger Delta

Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with the United States-based Atlanta Global Resources Incorporation (AGRI) to build a railway network to connect all states in the region.

The IYC president Peter Timothy Igbifa, in a statement in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said the  stakeholders in the region were excited over such a move by the board of the NDDC and were eagerly waiting for the realisation of the project.

Igbifa, who described the development as a paradigm shift from the past focus of the NDDC on quick-win projects, said sustainable and enduring projects like the proposed railway network would surely stimulate such economic activities required to place the Niger Delta on the fast lane of development.

The IYC boss argued that such a railway network, if realised, would be the first project for regional integration, a big developmental initiative, which he said was in tandem with the core mandate of the NDDC.

Igbifa said Niger Delta stakeholders were praying for the NDDC to pursue the proposed project to a logical conclusion insisting that all traditional rulers, youth groups, women, among others were united and had queued behind the commission to see the project come on stream.

He assured the local and international partners for the project that the Niger Delta people were united in their quest to see such a project of regional dimension take place in the Niger Delta.

Igbifa appealed to the partners not to allow any lone voice discourage them from working with the management of the NDDC to achieve the proposed feat saying “Niger Delta is bigger than any individual”.

He, however, said youths and other stakeholders from the region would not allow a few envious and negative-minded individuals scuttle the proposed project.