The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Audit Report is beginning to elicit conflict across the Southsouth even before the full recommendations of the committee are made public, Checkout Magazine learnt.
Stakeholders are particularly displeased with the suggestion by the committee that membership of the NDDC board should be trimmed and made part time.
Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Akpabio had on Thursday presented the report to the Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide asked Buhari to immediately sack Akpabio, who it claimed, manipulated the audit process by deploying delay tactics, selfish politics and maneuvering to maintain his stranglehold on NDDC against the collective interest of the region.
He said: “We were told that Akpabio ensured that selfish recommendations were smuggled into the report. If these recommendations are implemented, they will deny states adequate representation on the board and give Akpabio more time to continue running the NDDC with a sole administrator.”
The recommended managerial and structural changes in NDDC are also not appealing to the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).
According to The Nation, the Spokesman of the forum, Hon Ken Robinson, yesterday maintained that while staff downsizing might be necessary, reducing membership of the board would be out of place.
He said: “Downsizing of the staff may be necessary to maximize efficiency but it is not the load of the staff that determines the efficiency and capability of the people.
“Downsizing the staff may not be necessary because the Act says the NDDC is nine states to be represented by one person and to give it a national outlook, somebody represents the other zones of the country.
“The point is that the inefficiency and inability of the NDDC to fulfill its mandate is not even about size of the commission or the size of the board.”
Also reacting, the Niger Delta Rights Activists (NDRA) vowed that the agenda of a sole administrator for the NDDC being pushed in some quarters would not work.
The NDRA spokesperson, Darlington Nwauju, said: “We reject the idea of a part-time board for the NDDC as the development of this sensitive region cannot be left in the hands of part-time handlers.
“We also completely reject the idea of downsizing of the Management Board as this will require the force of law, meaning that the NDDC Act must first be amended before this suggestion can be acted upon by the Presidency.”
The Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) said any attempt by anyone to pocket the Niger Delta would fail.
National President of the group, Kennedy Tonjo-West, said there seemed to be a plan by Akpabio and Malami to seize control of the NDDC from the people of the region.
But he said any such plan would be aborted.
