Niger Delta: “Ordered Forensic probe of NDDC, commendable and timely”— Bayelsa Elders, Youths

Elders and Youths from Bayelsa State yesterday commended President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly over the decision to probe the operations of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from 2001 to 2019, saying the decision is timely and will stop acts of impunity among politicians and officials from the Niger Delta region.

While the Bayelsa Elders made up of the Association of Rural Chief for Peace and Development led by Alabo Nengi James-Oriworio, members of the Swamp Area Oil and Gas Producing Communities and the former Security Adviser to the Bayelsa State Government, Chief Perekeme Kpodoh agreed and described as “commendable” and “timely” the forensic probe ordered by President Muhammad Buhari, saying such probe will end impunity in the fold of various intervention agencies for the region.

The Ijaw Youths under the aumbrella body, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, through the Secretary General, Comrade Alfred Kemepado expressed gladness over the news of President Buhari setting up a forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC),stated that the audit and its subsequent sincere report that is hoped for, would hopefully show the rot and shame that the organization represents in recent years.

A Bayelsa Elder, who spoke to our correspondent, commended President Muhammadu Buhari and said the forensic audit should also be extended to the other intervention agencies including the Presidential Amnesty Programme, the audit ordered of the NDDC will justify the calls by the people of the Niger Delta region for a closer look at the spending of the commission which had been turned into a conduit pipe for Governors and political appointees in the region.

Chief Prekeme Kpodoh said the probe will announce to the accused politicians that under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, “it will not be business as usual. Most of them including some traditional rulers take the Commission as a conduit pipe to syphon monies meant for development. Politicians support members of the commission board and use them to divert funds for development into private pockets.”

Kpodoh, who is a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and a vocal advocate of transparency in the administration of the NDDC and the Presidential Amnesty office, asked the President to ask the probe panel to take a closer look at the alleged disappearance of N60billion under the guise of quick win jobs and water hyacinth contracts to youths of the region,”

“The N60billion water hyacinth jobs don’t have records. Water hyacinth jobs are used to “kill and divide” within the NDDC.It is part of the purported emergency jobs used by top officials of the NDDC to move funds out of the commission for their political bosses. They have deviated from the NDDC blue prints. The probe ordered should not be for the NDDC alone,it should be extended to the Presidential Amnesty office. If the diverted monies were judicious used for what they were meant for, the region would have been like Holland.”

Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, in the statement issued by its Secretary General, Mr. Alfred Kemepado, noted that the NDDC and The Amnesty program have been more of a problem to the youths and people of the Niger Delta rather than the solution it was set up to be, calling on President Buhari to make out sufficient time to further audit the committee that is set up to audit the NDDC so as to ensure they are not influenced by the NDDC actors as so much money is available to them in billions of Naira to do so”

“The IYC scribe also called on The President to forensically audit the Presidential Amnesty Program to ensure the productivity of that program for the people of the Niger Delta. Furthermore on the NDDC, The IYC scribe Mr. Alfred Kemepado requested that the President should also look into the over politicization of the commission. That the commission seems to have lost its vision and mission to the funding of politics instead of the development of the region.”

“ That a focused NDDC is capable of bringing massive development and total rest to the issues of the Niger Delta, especially the security issues. Instead the NDDC is known for issuing bogus contracts and the corrupt over invoicing of such contracts to enrich their cronies who are most times not people from the Niger Delta region. He urged President Buhari not to fail to expose culprits no matter how highly placed or which political party they belong”. 

“Finally, Mr. Alfred Kemepado calls on President Buhari to place competence, experience and sufficient knowledge of the ethos, logos and pathos of the region ahead of political patronage in appointing members of the Board, as well as the details of the law establishing the NDDC board. That members appointed or that would be appointed must prove capacity to deliver on the original mandate of the commission before they are considered for such sensitive assignments.”

“ That if possible members appointed into the board should be made to face a public rigorous examination process to prove their worth of holding offices as members of the board, because these positions are too sensitive to just give to people who care less about the development of the region as we have noticed in recent years”.

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