The Niger Delta region has once again voiced its opposition to the naming of an interim lead to oversee the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) until the completion of an on-going forensic audit.
These concerns were expressed by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), a socio-political platform under the leadership of elder-statesman, and Second Republic Senator, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark and a former Military governor of Akwa Ibom State, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanaga (Rtd).
The PANDEF flayed what it called the continuous appointment of interim administrators for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), describing it as an unfortunate, unacceptable and a development that is unknown to the laws setting up the NDDC.
PANDEF which cautioned that the continuous appointment, change and re-appointment of Interim Management Committee (IMC) twice and now an interim administrator all within a period of less than two years, is an indication that the NDDC which was set up for the accelerated development of the Niger Delta region has been reduced to a mere “political coliseum.”
National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Ken Robinson, in a statement on Tuesday said the Act and enabling Law governing the Commission never contemplated any provision or role for a sole administrator.
Similarly, a former national President of the late legendary Ken Saro-Wiwa’s established Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Mr Ledum Mittee, maintained that it is unlawful for the federal government to consistently resort to appointing IMC and sole administrator for NDDC.
According to Mitee, the NDDC Act and its relevant instruments and protocols provide for only a substantive board and management team that would run and manage the NDCC , stressing that federal government should as a matter of priority put a substantive Board and management in place.
He said: “What does the President’s continued appointment of an interim committee and now interim sole administrator tell about his accountability and transparency and anti-corruption fight.”
Mitee said the act of appointing a sole administrator indicates that the NDDC would continue to remain a conduit pipe for persons with dubious intents.
He advised President Buhari to reverse the move in order to protect his integrity and commitment to the campaign goals and programs that brought him into office, which are anchored on accountability and anti-corruption by allowing a substantive board for the commission to be in place.
He added:“The NDDC was created to bring development closer to the Niger Delta people, but what we keep seeing is corruption, it is now a tradition for this administration to keeping making such appointments, which shows a deliberate move to siphon public funds.”
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