IYC Urges Senate To Dissolve NDDC 3-Man Interim Committee

By Mattex Omonext, Delta

The Ijaw Youth Council, (IYC) Worldwide on Monday called on the Senate to dissolve the Niger Delta Development Commission,NDDC three man interim committee” set up by the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godswill Akpabio.

The IYC President, Mr. Eric Omare Esq made the call a press conference held in Warri 

The IYC spoke on the controversies arising from the appointments of members of the Committee after President Muhammadu Buhari had sent the names of 16 nominees to the Senate for confirmation. 

“Out of the 16 nominees sent to the Senate, 15 of the nominees for the NDDC Board were cleared, the IYC noted.

The IYC added that,”The Forensic audit ordered by Mr. President should be supervised directly by Mr. President and not by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs because we don’t have confidence that he can supervise the project.”

The IYC threatened that,”If our demands are not met within a reasonable time, we will have no other option than to resort to mass action across the Niger Delta region.

“The NDDC Headquarters in Port-Harcourt will be shutdown. We will not allow the illegal contractor called Interim Management Committee to sit down in Port-Harcourt and piffer away our resources.”

The IYC recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in August this year, nominated 16 Niger Deltans to head the the Niger Delta Development Commission,NDDC Board.

It stressed that the names of the nominees were sent to the Senate for clearance in accordance with the NDDC establishment Act 2000.

According to the IYC, “The Senate President referred the nominees to the Committee on NDDC and 15 out of the 16 were screened.

” But on Tuesday last week curiously on the date the President sent the names of the nominees to the Senate for clearance, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Godswill Akpabio in very dangerous hours of the night hurriedly inaugurated a 3 man Interim Management Committee to Manage the NDDC until the conclusion of the  forensic audit ordered by Mr. President inspite of the fact that the senate Pursuant to the provisions of the NDDC Act had already started the process of confirming the nominees by Mr. President.

“In our view, the action by the Minister of Niger Delta is illegal. It’s an aberration and has no foundation under the NDDC Act.

” There’s no provision for an Interim Management Committee under the NDDC Act when the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has already put in motion the process of constituting a new board under the NDDC Act.

“The argument for that has been put forward by the proponents of the Interim Management Committee is that the interim management committee is to ensure unhindered forensic audit of the NDDC.

“The argument again is not tenable. It us baseless. The reason is very simple. The Interim Management Committee is headed by Dr. Joy from Rivers State. The same Dr. Joy is the person that the president nominated to represent Rivers State on the Board of the NDDC.

“So, the simple question we are asking is this. If you feel that Dr. Joy as Interim Management Committee members would not interfere with the the forensic audit? What makes you think that Dr. Joy as a member of the substantive board will interfere with the audit? It is illogical.

” This is not the first time in the history of this Country where forensic audit is being carried out. Under the Goodluck administration when there were issues of missing billions of naira in the NNPC,a forensic audit of the NNPC was done which was built by an international accounting firm.

“Again, when the Buhari Government come on board, there were issues with management of arms of funds under Col. Dasuki.

” A special presidential Committee was set up to probe the office of the National Security Adviser. In all these instances, the NNPC or the NSA office were not declared vacant or an interim management committee was not set up to manage those offices.

“There was a substantive board of the NNPC to manage the NNPC while the forensic audit of the NNPC was going on.

” In the case of the NSA, there was a substantive National Security Adviser doing his constitutional function while the forensic audit of the NSA was going on.

“The NDDC has become a patronage agency by those in power. The NDDC was not created to service the political interests of a few people to the detriment of the generality of the Niger Deltans.

” the NDDC creation was watered by the blood of the Ijaw youths, by the blood of Niger Delta youths who died in Kaiama, who died in Port-Harcourt. Some of them died in Isoko land and all over the Niger Delta region fighting for the creation of the NDDC with their expectation that the NDDC some of the challenges will be handled.

“As we speak today, Niger Delta Deltans cannot move from Delta to Edo State because the roads have totally collapsed. As we speak, you cannot move from Bayelsa to Rivers State because the roads have collapsed. Most of our communities have been overtaken by flood. These are issue that demands urgent response of the NDDC as an intervention agency in the Niger Delta.

” But instead, those in power to put the NDDC in place which can respond to these challenges , they’re using the NDDC as a tool for political patronage whereas, the North East Development Agency, NEDC that was set up recently by President Buhari have a stable leadership and delivering on its statutory constitutional mandate.”