Delta Lawmakers Urged to Create Coastal Areas Development Agency

Delta Lawmakers Urged to Create   Coastal Areas Development Agency

By Sylvester Idowu

Members of the Delta State House of Assembly have been urged to pursue passage of a bill seeking establishment of a Coastal Areas Development Agency (CADA) in the state.

President, Delta Ijaw Youth Movement for Political Advancement (DIYMPA), Mr. John Dekawei made the appeal in Warri, adding that lawmakers of Ijaw extraction in the House should take it as a primary duty to help realise the law, stressing that creation of the agency would speed up development in Ijaw riverine communities.

Continuing, he said history would not be fair to legislators of Ijaw extraction in the House if they fail to ensure a law is passed for creation of the special agency to develop coastal areas in the state.

He said just like the existing Warri, Uvwie and Environs Development Agency and Delta Capital Territory Development Agencies created by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa it was time Coastal Areas Development Agency, CADA, was created to take development to the riverine areas.

He further lamented the high level of flood ravaging several Ijaw communities in the state, adding that it was worrisome that the federal and the state governments had not done much to redress this perennial problem.

Dekawei stated that CADA is the collective interest of all sons and daughters of the Ijaws in Delta State and beyond, stressing that such an important bill must not be delayed at any cost.

He observed that the Coastal Areas Development Agency ( CADA ) Bill after presentation and its eventual ascent by the Governor of Delta State into law would have the capacity to address the multifaceted woes of the Ijaws in Delta State.

Dekawei said the destinies of those living in the coastal part of Delta State and their communities are tied to CADA as its legislative imput will give way for its creation by the executive arm of government in the state.

He maintained that it has to be one step at a time as the excuse of not creating or establishing CADA in this political dispensation should not be the fault of the lawmakers for failing to present it on the floor of the Delta State House of Assembly for ascent by the Governor of Delta State.

The Niger Delta activist bemoaned the state of things bedeviling the Ijaw ethnic nationality in Delta State, stressing that it is no longer news that most lawmakers from the Ijaw flank do not have bore hole water in their communities, adding that if CADA is implemented, it would address such challenges and take care of more pressing needs of the people at the coastal areas.

While lauding the idea behind CADA, he noted that if created, such will be one of the important things that Delta Ijaws will be celebrating as it will be having the capacity to add more value to the long forgotten communities within the creeks of Delta State.

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