US consulate, NDDC meet on peace, security in Niger Delta

US Consulate in Nigeria says it is strengthening collaboration with  the Niger Delta Development Commission to promote peace and security in the region.
The NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, Ibitoye Abosede, made this known in statement issued in Port Harcourt on Friday.
Abosede said the US Consul-General, F. John Bray, made this known when he led a delegation to the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.
Bray, who was represented by the Political and Economic Consul, Osman Tat, said that discussions were ongoing on strategies to sustain development in the Niger Delta.
He said: “One of the primary goals of the U.S. mission is to support Nigeria’s economic development.
“The meeting with the NDDC leadership was part of regular consultations undertaken by the U.S. Consulate in Lagos and the embassy in Abuja.
“The consulate recognises the fact that NDDC has a large number of projects spread across the nine states of the oil-producing region of Nigeria.”
The envoy said that the consulate felt it was important to learn from NDDC how projects were being executed in the region.
He said: “We have looked at several projects being executed by the NDDC and the ones it intends to undertake in future.
“We had a fruitful discussion with the NDDC on projects implementation and we are interested in seeing that the projects and development activities are well executed for the benefit of the people.”
Bray said that the U.S. Government was interested in seeing Nigeria conduct free, fair, transparent and non-violent general elections in 2019.
Abosede said the NDDC Chairman, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, told the delegation that the commission’s mandate was to develop the region through engagement with critical stakeholders in the country.
He said: “NDDC, being an intervention agency, has little or no role to play in partisan politics. We are only interested in ensuring that there is peaceful atmosphere in the region.
“We believe that the only way we can achieve that is by bringing projects and development to the region.”