NDDC: Groups Demand End To Sole Administratorship

By Ayodele Oni

Tension is rising again at the coastal region of the country as some groups insist on a Board for the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) and not Sole Administrator.

The Groups, Concerned Citizens of Edo State (CCES) and other Civil Society Organizations, including the Edo Volunteers Group, called for an immediate inauguration of the substantive NDDC Board confirmed by the National Assembly after a screening in 2019.

The Groups, in a statement on Thursday, released online, frowned at the continuous adoption of a Sole Administrator arrangement, denouncing it as an “illegal contraption.”

The statement signed by Kola Edokpayi, Eni Balulu, and Theophilus Afuda, requested for the report of the Forensic Audit of the NDDC conducted by the Federal Government to be publicly released, with indicted persons prosecuted.

They also demanded for the extrication of the NDDC from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and its return to the Presidency, as well as a representation of all the nine states of the Niger Delta region in the Commission.

“Stop nepotism in NDDC. Let there be equal opportunity for all citizens of the Niger Delta Region. We say no to Sole Administrator in NDDC, no to inequitable distribution of the NDDC projects.”

The Groups are the latest Niger Delta stakeholders pushing for the completion of the NDDC leadership formation process that started in 2019 but stalled due to political interventions.

Many have contended that the resort to a Sole Administrator, has aided corruption, negatively impacted the operations of the Commission, and is in violation of its guiding constitution.

The National Assembly Committee, charged with the responsibility of overseeing the activities of the Commission has not been helping matters, as members were once fingered in the corruption, which has become the order of the day at the intervention agency.

Investigation revealed that some members of the National Assembly Committee now divert projects meant for Communities in the oil producing areas to their immediate towns for political gains.