NDDC: Group urges Buhari to listen to South-South governors, inaugurate board

The Niger Delta Peoples Assembly has commended South-South Governors’ Forum for again calling for the inauguration of the Governing Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

In a statement by Chief Boma Ebiakpo, National Chairman, the group said it was heart warming that Niger Delta governors rose to the occasion on April 29 “at this time of palpable tension across the region, following the refusal of the Federal Government to abide by the law and inaugurate a substantive board.”

Recalling that the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) gave one-month ultimatum to the government to inaugurate the NDDC board or the safety of oil operations in Niger Delta region, the group said beyond the case of the illegality of interim managements, there was also the urgent need to douse the rising tension in the Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta Peoples Forum said Niger Delta people are running out of patience and  “beginning to lose their cool over an unending forensic audit that has been used as guise in the past 18 months to hold down development of the region despite a whopping approved budget of N799.5 billion.”

It urged President Buhari to forestall serious crisis erupting in the Niger Delta as a result of missteps at the NDDC, saying it was time to “listen to the plea of the South-South Governors’ Forum, which Governor Okowa made on April 29, that ‘we cry to Mr. President today to quickly inaugurate the Board because it’s in the best interest of the nation and the best interest of the oil-producing states.'”