A group, Project Niger Delta, has vowed to mobilise youths across the region to protest the continued delay in the inauguration of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The group made this known in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari and signed by its Executive Director and Coordinator, Comrade Princewill Ebebi.
The letter, which was also copied to the Senate and House of Representatives Committee Chairmen on NDDC, reads in part, “Mr President should promptly call the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to order and give him a matching order to set up modalities to inaugurate the NDDC board.
“As its stands, it is only Akwa Ibom State where the minister and interim administrator hail from that is benefiting from the NDDC while other states are mere spectators in the affairs of the commission.
“We therefore, unequivocally state that we shall mobilise youths across Niger Delta states against the minister and interim administrator and we shall shutdown all NDDC offices across the nine Niger Delta states.
“This is our common resolve as youths in the Niger Delta region, we shall resist any attempt to intimidate or obstruct our protest if the board is not inauguration immediately.
“It is regrettable that a major institution established by law to tackle the development challenges of the Niger Delta region has been rendered redundant with the continued delayed in the inauguration of a substantive board as stipulated in the Act setting up the commission.
“It is sad that since you came on board, the management and running of the commission have been vested in the hands of acting managing director, interim administrator, and now sole administrator, in flagrant disregard to the Act setting up the commission and therefore denying the component states the opportunity to have representatives in the board.
“This has not only dragged the region backwards but is causing serious unrest, agitations, and indignation amongst the people of the Niger Delta Region.
“We have further noted with chagrin the manipulative antics and demonic influence of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, in the continued delayed in the inauguration of the NDDC board. In the light of this, we wish to intimate Your Excellency that our people are running out of patience.”
