Buhari, APC Urged to Inaugurate NDDC Board to Avert Dire Consequences

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Concerned members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Niger Delta area have called for the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari and the national leadership of the ruling party to end the impasse in inaugurating a substantive Board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

They warned that the “illegal act” of running the affairs of NDDC with “a contraption of sole administratorship” was already generating adverse political implications for the ruling APC, which appears to be insensitive to the yearnings of the Niger Delta people.

The group, which described itself as Committed Members of the APC from the  Niger Delta  Region, sounded the ominous warning in a follow-up letter signed by the trio of Ebihomo Akpoebide, Menegbo Nwinuamene and Itam Edem, which was addressed to both President Buhari and the national leadership of the ruling APC.

According to the concerned party members, the prevailing illegality in NDDC “is diminishing the chances of our party, the APC in our region due to our government’s foisting of interim managements and sole administrator contraptions in our region’s foremost agency, NDDC, in violation of the law.”

“This blatant illegal act of the federal government has been de-marketing APC in the region,” the group said, adding, “as it stands, the APC cannot win an election in the region except the missteps in NDDC are remedied and the NDDC substantive Board is inaugurated in accordance with the law setting up the commission.”

“We earnestly urge President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of our great party, the APC, to act now, end the ongoing illegality of sole administratorship in NDDC, and inaugurate the substantive board of the Commission in compliance with the law, the NDDC Act.”

In a passionate appeal the party members urged the President and the APC national leadership “to hearken to the authentic stakeholders in the Niger Delta states and inaugurate the NDDC Board without further delay.”

Several stakeholders and groups in the Niger Delta region have been expressing their dismay and frustration over the “inexplicable delay to inaugurate the substantive Board of the NDDC” despite the unsavoury  implications of running the Commission with interim management.

The concerned APC members lamented that the sole administratorship contraption has been in place for three years now thereby denying the nine constituent states of NDDC the opportunity of fair and equitable representation on the commission’s Board.

They pointed out that as things stand now, the nine NDDC states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers, “which by law ought to have representation on the board, have been de­prived of their statutory repre­sentation due to the absence of the Board.”

Without the Board in place, the group further stated, the constituent states have be­en “deprived of opportunity of having their representatives who, sitting on NDDC Board, are supposed to ensure that the budget of the NDDC is run in the way that what is due to each state gets to them.”

Nonetheless, the group said they were encouraged by the new Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umana Okon Umana, who promised he would strive to “meet the yearnings of the people of the Niger Delta for development”.

The minister also assured that “together we can create the necessary impact and make the difference for the people of Nigeria and the Niger Delta.”

But the Niger Delta APC  members cautioned that the continued administration of the NDDC by Interim management committees/sole administrator would provide the opposition parties with the fodder to roast the APC when electioneering kicks off as the ruling party would have to explain why it has been encouraging illegalities in NDDC. 

The group reminded President Buhari and the APC leadership that they should be concerned about the mood of the Niger Delta people and should not continue to disdainfully overlook their demands for the right things to be done in the running of NDDC.

“President Buhari needs to end the ongoing illegality in NDDC if APC desires to win the upcoming general elections, across board in the entire region, and be remembered for good in the Niger Delta.

“We restate that this is the minimum the federal government and the APC can do to win back the trust of the Niger Delta people and stand a chance to do well in the region, in the forthcoming 2023 general election,” the concerned APC members said.