Wike’s Description of NDDC as  Cash Cow is  Distraction, Says Niger Delta Group

Sylvester Idowu in Warri

The Community Development Committee (CDC) of Niger Delta Oil and Gas Producing Areas (CDC) has described a recent comment by former Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is a cash cow that needs reorganisation as a distraction to the present management of the interventionist agency.

The group said that Wike’s statement was misplaced, noting that it was a careless talk with the aim of using the commission to score political mileage and coast his way into the hearth of President Bola Tinubu for political patronage.

In a statement that was signed by the CDC’s Chairman, Board of Trustees, Mr. Joseph Ambakederimo and Head of Secretariat, Mr. Augustine Iyamu, the committee stated that it expected political leaders in the region to rally round the NDDC with sole aim of executing its mandate to the benefit of the people r
ather than for self-aggrandisement.

Wike had last Monday, during the groundbreaking ceremony of Governor Siminialayi Fubara’s N195.3 billion Port Harcourt Ring Road project in Port Harcourt, described the NDDC as a cash cow organisation that needs to be reviewed.

But the CDC maintained that the use of the expletives by the former governor was unacceptable and should be discountenanced.

It said: “The use of expletives emanating from ex-governor Ezenwo Wike on the NDDC as a cash cow is not acceptable if the inference is on this present management team.

“The statement made by the ex-Governor Wike is misplaced and can be referred as careless talk from an individual who wants to use the bashing of the commission to further his intent to score a cheap political mileage and further cosy his way into the heart of President Bola Tinubu for political patronage.

“It will be disingenuous for anyone for that matter to make unsubstantiated claim and smear the leadership that is trying hard to make a difference to develop a pathway for the infrastructural development of the region even with the meagre resources that is available at its disposal.

“While we are not dismissing the ex-governor’s assertion in totality, we agree that there has been some questionable developments and unwholesome practice’s in the recent past that leaves repugnant taste in the mouth, but it has not always been gloom and doom.

“No doubt there has been many very good deeds earned by the NDDC, which abound everywhere in the Niger Delta area, therefore, to paint the agency with one brush would be nocuous.”