The Niger Delta Youth Council (NDYC) has urged the Federal Government to inaugurate the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to prevent resumption of hostilities in the region.
This is contained in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Mr. Jator Abido, on Wednesday in Abuja.
Abido cautioned that if the Federal Government did not inaugurate a substantive board for the Commission, it may lead to the resumption of hostilities in the region.
Consequently, the council urges the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio to be proactive in the inauguration of the board or else, he will be held responsible for any crisis in the region.
According to Abido, the Council is constrained to continue in its efforts to calm frail nerves over the abitrary administration of the NDDC.
“It would be recalled that some prominent Ex-Niger Militants led by Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to inaugurate the substantive Board of the NDDC.
“The insistent of some cabal to jettison the screened board of the NDDC for a sole administrator, is totally unaccepted and anti-development to the people of the region,” Abido stated.
He explained that the people of the region were averse to a one-man show in a commission that is supposed to attend to the developmental needs of all the states in the region.
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Abido emphasised that the Act establishing the Commission provided among other things, that it would be administered by a Board.
The board will comprise a Chairman, Managing Director, Executive Directors and Commissioners who will be drawn from the nine states that make up the region.
“However, this provision has been blatantly undermined because there is no provision for either Interim Management Committee or Sole Administration in the Act that establishes NDDC,” he said. (NAN)
