A group in the Niger Delta, the South-South Elders Progressive Forum, has called on the Federal Government to look into issues it highlighted rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The elders forum noted that the recent directive from the Presidency dissolving the Governing Boards of all Federal Government Parastatals, Agencies, Institutions, and Government-owned companies as it relates to the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission had cast a dent in the image of the barely two-month-old government.
SSEPF decried that the high hopes of the natives of the Niger Delta, who hold the key to ensuring unhindered crude oil and gas production, had begun to diminish.
In an open letter dated July 18 and co-signed by its chairman, Chief Jolomi Ande, and secretary-general, Dr Benedict Akparanta, the group urged the President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to take bold steps to take full charge of the government and energise its machinery towards effective delivery of good governance through the various agencies.
It noted that no individual had been appointed substantive managing director of the NDDC without a board.
The open letter read, “Contrary to the present scenario, no previous Governing Board of the NDDC had been dissolved with either the managing director or the two executive directors left to continue in office. The recently dissolved Board of the Commission shouldn’t be an exception, and the decision of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, to issue letters to the three officials contrary to Mr President’s directive is manifestly strange. Therefore, we doubt if it was done with your consent.”
The group also urged Tinubu to take measures to check the manipulative activities of some individuals and top officials of the government who parade the corridors of power.
It added, “Your Excellency, rekindle public confidence, enthrone good governance, peace, stability, and the development of the nation. We urge you to be wary and promptly take measures to check the manipulative activities of some individuals and top officials of government who parade the corridors of power.
“And the danger, if the trend is allowed to persist, is that there will be no meaningful development, especially in the Niger Delta region, because such persons, when appointed, only serve the interests of those who assisted them in Abuja and elsewhere to procure the appointments and not the people of the region.”
On the allegations that a whopping sum of N6bn of the commission’s funds was disbursed to secure the retention of some members of the NDDC board following the dissolution directive, the group expressed worry and demanded an investigation into the alleged corruption in the NDDC, noting the looming danger ahead if not timely addressed.
