FORMER Senator Francis Spanner Okpozo has advised that the headquarters of the newly created Niger Delta Ministry should be sited in the former Bendel State, preferably the oil city of Warri in Delta State.

According to Okpozo, since the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, locating that of the new ministry in Warri should be the ideal thing as it will give the people of Edo and Delta states who are also oil producers a sense of belonging.

He said that Warri, which was a theatre of war among the three tribes- Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo-was now an island of peace in the turbulent region, adding that locating the headquarters in the city would go a long way in maintaining the peace. "Locating the headquarters in Warri will be the dividend of peace," he said.

According to the former parliamentarian, the Niger Delta region as it is constituted today is an amalgamation of states, which were excised from the old Western and Eastern regions, stressing that Rivers State, which was carved out of the Eastern Region already has the NDDC headquarters and as such Delta which was created from the Western Region should be the host of the ministry.

He kicked against the idea of locating the ministry in Abuja, warning that the aim of the creation would have been defeated in the event of such a move. "The headquarters of the Niger Delta Ministry must be in the Niger Delta region, preferably Warri, Delta State as it is another major oil- producing area that has been seriously marginalised," he said.

Okpozo, a Deputy Speaker of the Bendel State House of Assembly during the ill-fated Second Republic said that instead of hosting the ministry, a liaison office should be established in Abuja where the minister would always have the opportunity of liaising with the President.

He said it would be too costly for the people of the oil- rich but ironically poor people of the region to travel all the way to Abuja and pay very expensively to stay in hotels each time they want to have dealings with the ministry, which was specially created to solve their problems. "The motive for the creation of the ministry would have been defeated if the headquarters is located in Abuja," he said.

Again, he noted that it would also be very costly for the minister to reside in a far place and effectively oversee the affairs of the region, pleading that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua should not give in to the temptation of locating the ministry in Abuja. On the choice of a minister to head it, Okpozo advised that he should be chosen from any of the Niger Delta states and not a "foreigner" who does not understand the plight of the people.