By Esther Ibe, Owerri
South-South Governors of the Niger Delta region have again urged President Muhammadu Buhari “to uphold the law establishing Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by appropriately constituting its governing board.”
Speaking after their meeting in Government House, Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital on Monday, the Chairman of the South-South Governors forum, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State expressed the hope that the federal government would make the forensic audit report public and “deal justly and fairly with the report with a view to strengthen the capacity of NDDC to meet its obligation to the people of the region.”
Earlier in the year, the Governors had stated clearly that the current sole administrator/ interim contraption in NDDC does not comply with the NDDC Act which requires representation of the constituent states.
They also decried the running of NDDC contrary to the enabling law setting up the Commission have pointed out that it does not augur well for the people of the Niger Delta as opportunity for all States to be represented as they ought to be represented in the board of the NDDC does not exist
Similarly, the umbrella body of the Ijaw nation, worldwide, Ijaw National Congress (INC) also cautioned in a recent statement that “any further delay in the inauguration of the NDDC board is a clear betrayal of trust and display of State insensitivity on ljaw nation and Niger Delta region.”
This followed the promise of President Buhari on the 24th day of June 2021, while receiving the Ijaw National Congress at the State House in Abuja that the NDDC Board would be inaugurated as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted.
The President said: ‘‘Based on the mismanagement that had previously bedeviled the NDDC, a forensic audit was set up and the result is expected by the end of July, 2021. I want to assure you that as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted, the NDDC Board will be inaugurated.”
The report of the forensic audit of NDDC was submitted by Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to President Buhari since September 2, 2021. More than one month after submission of the forensic audit report, there is increasing tension in the Niger Delta region over the delay in inaugurating members of the board of the Commission.
The South-South Governors’ meeting of October 4, 2021 was presided over by the Chairman of the Forum, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, and attended by the Governors of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, Bayelsa state, Duoye Diri, Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Udom, and Edo State, Godwin Obaseki.