CSOs applauds TINIBU over retention of NDDC key Board members

 

By Freshgist 

A coalition of Niger Delta stakeholders have applauded President Bola Amed Tinubu over retaintion of key members of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Goup led by the Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality, MOSIEND, in conjunction with a coalition of various Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, drawn across the nine Niger Delta states, at the weekend converged  in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital, and threw their weight behind President Bola Tinubu's decision to partially desolved the Board of the NDDC.

Stakeholders of the region representing various groups including the Niger Delta Coalition for Peace, NDCPP; Niger Delta Non Violent Youth Leaders Association, NNVYLA; Rivers State Youth Leaders Assembly RSYLA, and the Indigenous Youth Council of Ogoni People, IYCOP, who endorsed the communique at the end of the meeting, commended the President for retaining key officials of the agency.

They expressed confidence in the retained officials led by the Managing Director, MD, Mr. Samuel Ogbuku, and the two Executive Directors in - charge of Finance, and Projects, to deliver on the mandate of developing the region pending the reconstitution of the full Board.

 

President of MOSIEND, Kennedy Tonjo West, and Counsel to the group, Afoegba Peter Goodyear, who jointly addressed the communique, commended the NDDC leadership for high level consultations with leaders and various interest groups in the region with a view to ascertaining the core issues of infrastructural development, empowerment and jobs for the teeming unemployed youths of the region.

They warned against any smear campaign against the Ogbuku -led NDDC, aimed at rubbishing the hard - reputation the genuine drive towards ensuring effective delivery of its mandate for the betterment of the people of the region.

Part of the communique reads: By a notice on June 19, 2023, President Bola Tinubu, announced the dissolution of all Federal parastatals, agencies, institutions and government-owned companies across the country. The dissolutions which took place according to tenure limits, charge or transition to a new government, is not done as a punitive measure.

"For the NDDC, it was a matter of mixed reactions, when the Commission was named amongst parastatals and agencies dissolved by the Federal Government. We are relieved, however, to know that the MD, the Executive Directiors of Finance and Projects, were retained to manage the Commission pending the reconstitution of a new Board.

"As stakeholders in the Niger Delta region, we recognize the sacrifices and efforts expended by sons and daughters of the region before the last Board was constituted. At this time of our lives, the peace and progress of the region matters more than the infighting for positions and appointments. We say enough of the fight over the NDDC."

Warning that gone were the years when the agency was used as the cash cow for the satisfaction of political interests, the coalition urged the Federal Government under President Tinubu, to ensure that other officials dropped from the current Board were recalled when the agency is properly reconstituted, as the regional leaders and stakeholders have absolute confidence in them as partners in progress in the development of the region.