By Rita Enemuru, Reporting
The Ijaw People’s Development Initiative (IPDI), has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, constitute a new substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the effective management of the funds meant to develop the region.
The group warned that failure to toe this path of honour may lead to a mass protest and shutdown of the activities of the commission.
In a statement signed by the group’s National President, Comrade Ozobo Austin on Sunday, and made available to Stonix News, IPDI alleged that the commission had been turned into a cash cow for a few.
Ozobo reminded the president that the tenure of the current three-man board had elapsed, stating that a new board with states representatives should be inaugurated without further delay.
The group further averred that it is the turn of Delta State to produce the next Managing Director of the interventionist agency, stating that the Act establishing the NDDC should be strictly followed in inaugurating the new board to avoid fresh hostilities.
Ozobo, therefore, admonished President Tinubu against aiding and abetting corrupt practices in the commission, stressing that so much funds meant for the development of the region had been diverted with the help of mischievous previous administrations.
He also urged President Tinubu to support the completion of the fleet of abandoned NDDC projects in the Niger Delta, adding that the commission, over some years, had been turned into a commission for government officials and the cabal.
The group said urgent step was needed to revamp the commission to provide effective service to abridge the developmental deficit of Niger Delta, adding that the indigenes of the region had begun to lose confidence in the commission’s capacity to deliver on its mandate.
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