…Women, youths, major groups express concern, threaten action
Simmering discontent pervades the entire Niger Delta region as various interest groups are spoiling for action over the continued delay in the inauguration of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, over two months after the report of the forensic audit was submitted to the presidency.
This is made worse by speculations that the presidency is considering scrapping the NDDC entity and merging its role with those of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
The forensic audit report for the commission was submitted by Mr. Godswill Akpabio, Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, to President Muhammadu Buhari through the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on Thursday, September 2, 2021.
It would be recalled that, while receiving the leadership of the Ijaw National Congress, INC, on June 24, 2021, President Buhari had promised to inaugurate the board of the NDDC upon receiving and accepting the report of the forensic audit.
He said, “..I want to assure you that as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted, the NDDC board will be inaugurated.”
Earlier in June, Akpabio, had, during his visit to Warri South West Local Government Area where he met the ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo),also promised to inaugurate the board of the NDDC as soon as the forensic audit report was ready.
However, over two months after the submission of the audit report, there has been a dead silence on the inauguration.
Early in November, Akpabio was quoted to have said that “It’s not part of my job to constitute NDDC Board”, a statement which many interpreted to be a tacit shift of blame for the delay on President Buhari.
Although Akpabio had since refuted that allegation, tension in the Niger Delta has been on the rise especially with the unverified speculations that the presidency was mulling scrapping the NDDC and transferring its responsibilities to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
Neither Akpabio who is being touted as the protagonist of the move nor the presidency has come out to confirm or deny this, but reactions from the Niger Delta have been spontaneous and furious.
As the delay in the inauguration lingers, stakeholders from across the entire Niger Delta region are becoming more agitated just as some are threatening to resort to self-help.
Youths, women and men groups, the political class, traditional rulers and civil society organizations have continued to add their voices, urging the powers-that-be to, without further delay, inaugurate the substantive board of the commission which was already in place before the forensic audit.
The various interest groups have been clamouring for the inauguration of the board to ensure compliance with the law which set up the commission that provided for equitable representation of the member states to ensure promotion and sustenance of peace, equity and fairness in the distribution of projects and transformation of the Niger Delta region.
Prominent among the groups who have expressed grave concerns about the inexplicable delay in inauguration of the board, are the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the Ikwerre People’s Congress (IPC) Worldwide, Isoko Development Union (IDU), the Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND).
Others include the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), Itsekiri National Congress, Ijaw Youths Congress (IYC), among several others..
However, a group, the Niger Delta Peoples Forum (NDPF), has continued to maintain that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs who oversees the affairs of the NDDC is responsible for the unending delay in the inauguration of the board of the commission.
In a press statement signed by the National Chairman, Chief Boma Ebiakpo, in Warri on Friday, November 12, 2021, the group condemned Akpabio’s alleged claim that it was not his responsibility to inaugurate the board of the commission.
Ebiakpo pointed out that it is difficult for Akpabio to extricate himself from all the complications that have dogged the NDDC in the past three years, adding that all the actions of the minister indicate that he had not only caused the misfortune of the people of the Niger Delta, but he is adding to their woes by clandestinely mooting the idea of scrapping the commission and transferring its functions and responsibilities to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
The group which described the minister as an anti-Niger Delta agent, outlined some of his illegal control of the commission in the past three years to include the institution of interim management committees/sole administrator contraptions and the scuttling of the due consideration of the report of the forensic audit.
The group stated inter alia: “The anti-Niger Delta agenda has been the continued illegality of the interim management committees/sole administrator contraptions which the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs foisted on NDDC since October 2019 in breach of the NDDC Establishment Act No. 6 of 2000, which clearly requires that the board and management (comprising the MD and two EDs) shall be appointed by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, subject to the confirmation of the Senate.
“Senator Akpabio talks of scuttling the due consideration of the report of the forensic audit by stampeding the government.
“The Minister needs to be reminded that it is President Buhari who, on June 24, 2021, promised the nation that he will inaugurate the NDDC Board on receipt of the forensic audit report.
“It is therefore important in the above regard to remind the Minister that it has been over two months when he (Akpabio) submitted the forensic audit report to the President since September 2, 2021. So, how does a legitimate demand by Niger Deltans requesting abidance to the law setting up NDDC and the reminder to the President to fulfill his own promise amount to stampede?
“What also could be a more anti-Niger Delta agenda than that Senator Akpabio as supervising Minister of the NDDC, through an official memo in 2019 recommended to the President the suspension of the inauguration of the substantive board, which President Buhari had appointed, and which was confirmed by the Senate in November of 2019?
“The Minister instead in that same memo, recommended to the President the running of NDDC with illegal interim management/sole administrator contraptions until the completion of the forensic audit, contrary to the provisions of NDDC Act.
“Senator Akpabio, by his numerous illegal actions in the NDDC in the last two years has been de-marketing the APC and the Federal Government. Niger Deltans are very upset with the disdainful manner the region has been treated. There is increasing anger against the Federal Government and the APC in the Niger Delta region as a result of the very poor, biased, illegal and provocative actions of the Federal Government in the handling of matters concerning the NDDC and the Niger Delta region.”
Another Ijaw-based group, the Izanzan Intellectual Camp, has advised President Buhari to be wary of the influence of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, pointing out that the growing tension in the region over the uncertainty of the NDDC, is presently taking its toll on oil companies operating in the area to the extent that so many of them are slowing down their productive capacities while others are already contemplating relocating from the operational bases.
The National Coordinator of the Ijaw Interest Advocates, popularly known as Izanzan Intellectual Camp, Amb. Arerebo Salaco Yerinmene SNR, in a statement in Warri yesterday, accused Akpabio of fuelling issues that are threatening the peaceful existence of multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region.
The statement which was titled ‘Akpabio’s Greed Threatening The Peaceful Existence of Multinationals in the Niger Delta Region’, read in part:
“It is becoming glaring that the atmosphere in the region is getting charged as most major IOC’S operating in the Niger Delta are planning to exit or already having dwindling production in the region as the region is no longer conducive for operations following the continual agitations of host communities.
“Recently, most of Akpabio’s gimmicks over the NDDC board issue is adding to fuel the already battered discord between the multi- nationals and the oil-producing communities.
“Abuja should not be carried away and be sharing the goodies and mouth-watering stories from Akpabio. Be informed, the silent damages being caused to multinationals in their respective host communities which, if not quickly attended to, might affect the entire country’s economy.”
