NDDC Interim Administrator Says He Never Opposed New Board
Okon Bassey in Uyo
The Interim Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Efiong Akwa, has denied reports urging the people of the region to reduce agitation on the appointment of a new management board for the commission.
Dr. Akwa, was quoted to have recently said that “people should reduce the agitation on board and work with the current management of the NDDC,” during a Webinar Engagement for Stakeholders organised by Niger Delta United Congress (NDUC)
The management of NDDC in a statement yesterday said Akwa who was not present at the occasion but represented by his Special Adviser on Youths and Sports, Engr. Udengs Eradiri, wasn’t opposed to a new board for the commission.
The event focused on the theme: ‘2023 Elections and the Imperative for Strategic Participation of Niger Delta Youths’.
He was instead said to have called on the people of the Niger Delta region to trust President Muhammadu Buhari on the development of the region, noting that the President would act on the “genuine request” for the constitution of a substantive board for the commission.
The statement maintained that “It is also on record that Dr. Akwa has been at the forefront in asking for a new NDDC Board.”
The management regretted actions by mischievous politicians hiding under a nondescript group to continue the unfortunate agenda to create confusion in the commission.
It stated that such action negates the gains of the past months when the commission has been transformed from an organisation under forensic investigation to one that President Buhari has commended as having turned the corner for good.
“The commission is aware of the desperate fight by certain individuals and groups to return the NDDC to the inglorious past of being an ATM for politicians to fund their campaigns.
“As the politics and campaigns for 2023 elections heat up, we understand that these campaigns of calumny, blackmail and subterfuge will become even more urgent and strident.
“Little wonder the so-called Niger Delta United Congress has rehashed the allegation, long discredited, that N20bn payment was made to ghost contractors for contracts purportedly awarded by the commission.
“We had earlier shown categorically that there is no evidence whatsoever that NDDC paid N20 billion to any ghost contractor or any one for that matter,” positing that the claim was nothing but a cheap attempt at blackmail, mischief and misadventure.
“The public should, therefore, disregard such spurious lies being masterminded, fabricated and orchestrated by persons who are positioning themselves and their associates for appointment into the Board of the NDDC.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the commission states, without equivocation, that Dr. Akwa did not make the statement dubiously credited to him by this unregistered group, whose official address cannot be proven, neither did the commission pay N20 billion naira to any ghost contractor.
“We, therefore, challenge the authors and fabricators of these malicious allegations to come out with proof.
“We assure all stakeholders in the Niger Delta region that the NDDC will continue to be focused and prudent in the management of its resources for the benefit of the people of the region and will remain committed to the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari,” said the NDDC.
