Why Buhari should reconstitute NDDC board - Okawa

Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reconstitute the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), saying that instability in the commission’s board has contributed to the systemic institutional failure of the agency.

Okowa, who is the chairman of the South-south Governors’ Forum, made the call in Asaba, at the recent launch of “Resource Dependence, Violent Conflict and Economic Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria”, a book written by Michael Tidi, chairman, Warri South local government area, in Delta State.

He said that Buhari should give NDDC a board that would be accountable and eliminate politicisation of the interventionist agency, adding that it was time for Niger Delta people to collectively talk about the commission.

“I am not happy when I see the type of projects embarked upon by the NDDC in recent times. They ought to embark on inter-regional projects and also build major roads that connect one part of a state to another and not one kilometre of roads as the case is, ’’ he said.

The governor also stated that aside the stipends being paid to some ex-militants under the Amnesty Programme, the Federal Government should also empower the people on skill acquisition and set them up as real entrepreneurs.

According to him, the Federal Government ought to find a pathway for those trained, because many of the skill acquisition centres built have been abandoned.

He deplored the attitude of some persons saddled with management of agencies and programmes established for the development of the Niger Delta, saying “unfortunately, some of our people when appointed, they go there for the wrong reasons and it is imperative that we must appoint people that can be held accountable for their actions during their tenure.

“There is a need to develop the Amnesty Programme to become sustainable so that the people can benefit from it. We have truly started up by trying to solve the problem at the foundation stage without building them up to become self-reliant.

“Our people must realise that we cannot continue to play politics with what we say or do. Recently in Port Harcourt, we called for resource control and restructuring because the constitution as it is now, cannot develop the country.