Notable leaders in the Niger Delta have urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the newly appointed Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umana Okon Umana to immediately inaugurate a substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The leaders who made this demands in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers State said a substantive board of NDDC is needed to ensure that the interests of the Niger Delta region is protected.
In the statement signed by the Chairman of Niger Delta Front (NDF), Chief John Harry, the leaders appealed to Buhari to inaugurate the NDDC board to show that he cares so much about developing the region and making the government wide-ranging.
The leaders also rejected calls for the constitution of another interim administration, describing it as impractical and unnecessary.
The statement partly reads, “The board is needed to assure the nine states interests in the region’s development process.
‘’Fundamental to the forensic audit report is the question of implementation. The evidence so far is that the Federal Government is not rising to the occasion admirably.
‘’The Niger Delta people have suffered in silence from the hardship deriving from the advice of interim committee promoters.
‘’Three issues likely to have negative effects on government plans for the region are the personnel audit, delay in constituting a new board and moves to put in place another interim committee to run the commission.”
‘’It is a matter of sorrow and regret to see a man or woman betray his region and people. The proposed interim committee will not only make NDDC a weak but scrappy agency’’
‘’In order to avoid a repetition of our recent past experience whereby government engaged in all sorts of interim strategies, the commission’s board should be constituted.”
