The uncertainties surrounding the post-amnesty peace process must be addressed without delay by the Federal Government. According to recent reports, the Niger Delta Leaders, Elders and Stakeholders Forum, (NDLESF) is calling for the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Committee on Disarmament and Amnesty for Militants in the region headed by retired Major General Godwin Abbe, minister of Defence. Chief Edwin Clark, NDLESF chairman reportedly said although the committee on disarmament and amnesty for militants did an admirable job in coordinating the presidential initiative, it is currently overshooting its mandate by also attempting to spearhead the Federal Government’s post-amnesty development initiatives in the oil rich Niger Delta. 
According to Clark, the committee should be immediately dissolved because it has served and achieved its purpose. According to him, the move to spearhead the development initiatives of the Federal Government is usurping the duties of the Niger Delta ministry created for the purpose. His words; “You do not develop an area with the ministry of Defence; the ministry of Niger Delta was created for the purpose of development of the Niger Delta…Let us not deceive ourselves, Abbe’s committee is overshooting its mandate and that is why some people are asking questions. Abbe’s committee should now be dissolved immediately.”
Clark has also faulted the Federal Government approval of 10 per cent equity in the oil sector to oil producing communities of the Niger Delta. According to him, the approval of the equity to the oil communities which was announced by Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah, President Umaru Yar’Adua’s special adviser on petroleum matters will not guarantee peace in the region. Rather, Clark wants the Federal Government to put in place a plan similar to the Marshall Plan used to rescue Europe from economic collapse at the end of the 2nd World War for the development of the Niger Delta and create new towns. He said; “government should create new towns to reclaim all the lands and rebuild them as it did in Victoria Island in those days. Since we have a Niger Delta ministry which is like the ministry of Lagos Affairs headed by the father of President Yar’Adua in those days, massive development should commence immediately. One cannot substitute for the other, the two should go together.” There are also reports that some repentant militants in Ondo State who embraced the Federal Government’s amnesty programme and surrendered their weapons last October have abandoned their rehabilitation camps.
The Federal Government should immediately define the respective roles of the Presidential Committee on Disarmament and Amnesty for Militants and the Ministry of the Niger Delta. It is unacceptable that the Committee on Disarmament and Amnesty for Militants after overseeing the surrender of weapons by militants now wants to oversee government’s development initiatives. The ministry of the Niger Delta was created for the specific purpose of overseeing the development needs of the Niger Delta and should be allowed to discharge its responsibilities. 
It is disagreeable that since its creation, the ministry of Niger Delta has not taken adequate measures to justify its raison d’etre. Recently, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, Speaker of the House of Representatives, while defending a bill to establish an Office of Government Accountability in Nigeria, announced that over N500 billion approved for capital projects this year was idle in the coffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He also said that less than 60 days to the end of the fiscal year, the Niger Delta ministry has yet to utilise N59 billion that the National Assembly voted for the development of the Niger Delta region. To be sure, if the ministry of Niger Delta fails to use its allocation by the end of the year, it would be returned to the government coffers as unspent allocations.
The Federal Government should brace up and start tackling the developmental needs of the Niger Delta as a national emergency. It is sad that despite various commissions and hundreds of billions of naira supposedly spent in developing the coastal states in the past, no meaningful development can be seen in the region till today.
These include the 1958 Sir Henry Willink’s Commission the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) of 1960; the 1979 Presidential Task Force devoted 1.5 per cent of the Federation Account to the development of the Niger Delta; the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (Ompadec) set up in 1993; and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 1999 and a Niger Delta Development Plan of 2006. It is regrettable that after all these efforts the Niger Delta issue is still volatile. The situation must change for the better.
One decipherable fact responsible for the failure of past Niger Delta development plans is a lack of commitment on the part of government. The Federal Government must therefore match the Niger Delta development initiative with action because unless the Niger Delta is developed, government cannot achieve lasting peace in the region. The Federal Government has a duty to ensure that the Niger Delta ministry delivers its development initiative for the Niger Delta. It is not enough to have a ministry for the Niger Delta that is not living up to expectation.