Inaugurate screened NDDC board, Niger Delta Youths Urge Buhari

Niger Delta Youth Coalition (NDYC), a coalition of youth associations in the nine constituting states of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the Senate-confirmed Governing Board of the Commission following the completion of the forensic audit as has been confirmed by the Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio

NDYC, in a statement issued by its President, Tamunopriye Alaibo; Secretary, Okon Udo Archibong and Publicity Secretary, Uche Onyema, stated that while receiving in audience, members of the NDDC Forensic Audit Security Committee, led by Admiral Bamidele Oluwagbamila, in his office on Monday, Sen. Akpabio confirmed that the forensic audit of the NDDC, on which account the board nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate on November 5, 2019, was put on hold, has been concluded and the report of the forensic audit is now ready to be submitted to President Buhari.

With the completion of the audit, therefore, the group urges the President to put in place the Governing Board to ensure accountability, equitable representation and rapid development of the NDDC states.

NDYC recalls that on June 24 this year, while receiving the Ijaw National Congress at the State House in Abuja, President Buhari promised that the NDDC Board would be inaugurated as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted.

The group quotes President Buhari as saying that “Based on the mismanagement that had previously bedevilled the NDDC, a forensic audit was set up and the result is expected by the end of July 2021. I want to assure you that as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted, the NDDC Board will be inaugurated.”     It is against this background that “our Coalition of Youths Associations from the nine constituent states of the NDDC align with the demands of Niger Delta Governors, ethnic nationalities, statesmen and civil society organisations who have been calling for the inauguration of the Governing Board, since 2019, in compliance with the NDDC Act and to ensure full representation of the constituent states.”       Niger Delta Youth Coalition, therefore, calls on President Buhari to “follow through on his promise and inaugurate the Board that he appointed for the Commission.” According to them, since the inauguration of the Board was put on hold in November 2019, the NDDC has been run by Interim Managements and a sole administrator who have been utilising the funds of the Commission without any significant development projects commissioned in the constituent states in the last two years. “Our people have suffered untold neglect from the absence of representation in management,” the group noted.