“Buhari’s 7yrs refusal to set up substantive NDDC board provoking rising discontent in Niger Delta” – Nigerians oversea warns

Nigerians based in the North Carolina in the United States of America has said the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to set up a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is provoking rising discontent in the six states of the region, warning that any attempt to appointment another interim administrator will truncate the fragile peace in the region.

The Nigerians in the United States under the aegis of the Niger Delta Patriotic Alliance (NDPA) North America Chapter, Washington DC, USA, in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, warned that despite the existing peace in the Niger Delta region, the Seven years refusal to set up a substantive Board for the NDDC and appoint another interim administrator may provoke a violent reaction from the people of the region.

In the letter by the Niger Delta Patriotic Front and signed by its Secretary General, Mr. Keneth Friday, warned against the allege plot to sack the Interim Administrator, Mr. Effiong Akwa and replace him with another, declaring that facts available showed that the sacking of Effiong Akwa for another interim administrator will provoke a new form of agitation and restiveness among the youths and stakeholders across the region.

​According to the group,” What the region needs, according to studies and research, is the appointment of a substantive Board for the NDDC. They don’t want you to sack the incumbent Interim Administrator for another. If the Interim administrator is to be sacked, he must be replaced with a substantive board for the commission.”

​“Mr. President, the People of the Niger Delta region are calling on you to distance yourself from any appointment of a New NDDC Interim Administrator. You must have observed that for almost Seven (7) Years of the life of your Administration, you have not constituted a substantive NDDC Board for the commission despite the decision of the key stakeholders to keep the peace in the region. The people in the Niger Delta region are not happy with your administration’s decision to toy with a commission that contributes to contentious issues of development, empowerment and other economic activities in the region”.

​“While we are urging that you retain the Interim Administrator, Mr. Effiong Akwa until a Substantive Board Is Appointed, we want to point out that the appointment of a Substantive NDDC Board will provide a wider and legal representation across the Niger Delta region that will expedite Economic Growth and Development.Instead of acceding to the provocative plan of anti-APC politicians for the sack of Effiong Akwa and replace him with another interim administrator, it is better for Mr. President to salvage the falling rating of his administration and that of his party by appointing a substantive board to complete the announced sanitization of the commission”.

​“We are writing to you, Your Excellency, to appoint a substantive NDDC board and in the meantime, to direct the Interim Administrator Mr. Effiong Akwa to make outstanding payments to the suffering Niger Delta Contractors who have lost so much as many of their businesses and properties were confiscated by banks for failure to repay the loans, they took to fund their NDDC jobs. Many others have died in penury and left their siblings devastated.”

​“Mr. President, we observed that the Interim Administrator, after months of steering the NDDC turbulent ship during the ordered Forensic audit and submission of reports, will serve as a link between the commission and the expected substantive board.Effiong Okon Akwa, who is an astute lawyer and until the appointment was the Commission’s Acting Executive Director, Finance and Administration, has shown that he was born with an innate tendency of taking risks, identifying and acting on opportunities, building bridges among stakeholders, itemizing targets amidst peaceful disposition and fulfillment of goals”.

​“We have also observed that despite the understanding of key stakeholders from the region on the decisions over the NDDC and without a doubt, the youth leaders, traditional rulers, civil society organizations from the region are waiting and hoping that in reward for being the most peaceful region out of all, a new substantive Board will be a reward and allow the commission to constantly engage in constructive engagement with stakeholders in the region”.

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