Oil producing communities of Niger/Delta region have called for a comprehensive forensic audit of the activities of the ministry of the Niger Delta affairs. They made the passionate appeal to the FG stating that since it was establish in 2011, the ministry has not made any meaningful contribution to the Niger Delta region
At a meeting of the stakeholders in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the communities maintained that it will be in the best interest of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), for the ministry to be scraped or relocated to the Niger Delta for efficiency and robust productivity.
“The President should institute and empaneled a forensic audit of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in order for him to have firsthand the issues that have militated against the optimal performance of the Ministry since its creation twelve years ago”, the communities said.
In his own Submission, Joseph Ambakederimo, Convener of South-South Reawakening Group and Chairman, Board of Trustees Community Development Committees of Niger Delta Oil and Gas Producing Areas, said the the ministry has not lived up to the expectations and reasons for their establishment.
“We need the Honourable Minister to bring forth verifiable list of projects undertaken by his Ministry for the past twelve years that the Ministry has existed either ongoing, completed or abandoned. We must verify these projects to corroborate our position that we have held before now. l will challenge the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Development to a debate on National Television so that we can better appreciate the position we have held that the Ministry does not need to exist a day longer than necessary”.
“We have also identified that the Ministry is a distraction on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The NDDC decline started about three years after the Ministry was created and it became worse when the then Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio, now the President of the Senate took charge. The obsession that was brought to bear on the NDDC was suspect and of course our fears were confirmed”. He stated.
SOURCE: Eyes on Delta
IMAGE: Vanguard
