Youths On Rampage Over Govt’s Refusal To Inaugurate NDDC Board
Edo State youths yesterday protested the insensitivity of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the plight of the citizens, noting that they did not benefit from the capital-intensive projects by the Federal Government interventionist agency.
They also decried the refusal by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to inaugurate the screened and confirmed members of the NDDC board.
The protesters, who carried placards, took over the Murtala Muhammed Way, Benin, disrupting vehicular and human traffic.
They urged Buhari to move NDDC from the Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs to the Presidency, where it was initially.
The demonstrators, under the aegis of Concerned Edo Citizens, in conjunction with Coalition of Edo Volunteers Groups, in a statement by Eni Balulu, a lawyer; Eshiefaotsa Sylanus and Kola Edokpayi, said: “We demand the inauguration of the substantive board of the NDDC, as currently constituted, screened and confirmed by the Senate since November 2019.
“We are calling for the release of a White Paper on the forensic audit report, submitted to the Federal Government on September 2, 2021, and to take punitive actions against the persons found wanting and indicted by the report, to act as a deterrent to others.”
The protesters said the noble intention of the President to clean NDDC had been hijacked by ‘hawks,’ who, they alleged, had found willing partners in the new interim arrangement, thereby continuing the nefarious activities in the commission, to the detriment of Niger Delta people.
