NDDC: ACWCN Calls for Inauguration of Board Screened by Senate

The Association of Coastal and Waterways Communities of Nigeria (ACWCN), led by Comrade Bawo Egbiluwah, has lent its weight behind the widespread call for the immediate inauguration of the Odubu-led NDDC Board already screened and approved by the Senate since November 5, 2019. It therefore urged President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the board.

Rising from its meeting held at its national secretariat at Emiko Close in Warri, the Association in a statement jointly signed by its executive council members from Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo, and Akwa-Ibom noted that the Board’s membership was based on merit devoid of tribal and ethnic sentiments.

A statement issued Wednesday evening said the association commended President Buhari for the choice of Chief Bernard Okumagba as the Managing Director, describing Okumagba as having “distinguished himself in his career as a Chartered Accountant par excellence, banker, businessman, an astute and erudite politician of repute.”

The statement said ACWCN noted that as an administrator, politician and technocrat, Chief Okumagba had worked with the international financial services firm of Arthur Andersen & Co (now KPMG) and in several banks.

It also noted that Okumagba served as Delta State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget from August 2007 to November 2010, and was again appointed as Commissioner for Finance and served in that capacity from November 2010 to May 2011, and then reappointed as Delta State Commissioner for Finance in July 2011, a position he held till July 2013.

The association therefore took a swipe at the antics of mischief makers, tribal and ethnic bigots who were spreading false information and warned them to “desist from their unwholesome propaganda which will only breed crisis and underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region.”

ACWCN also said one of the greatest challenges bedevilling NDDC in carrying out its mandate in the Niger Delta region was the issue of tribalism and therefore posits that for the interventionist agency to grow, merit should take precedence hence “the inauguration of the new board with Chief Bernard Okumagba as its Managing Director is a step in the right direction.”

The association also said it wishes to put on record that beyond merit, Chief Bernard Okumagba is paternally from Warri South Local Government Area and maternally from Udu Local Government Area, both of which are oil producing areas of Delta state.

ACWCN therefore cautions that whoever is against the inauguration of the NDDC board screened by the Senate is an enemy of the growth and development of the Niger Delta region.

Other executive council members of ACWCN who signed the statement are Comrade Michael Eferebo Jones, National Secretary,; Comrade John Ugoro, National PRO; Comrade Bawo Edirin Otirikpe, National Organising Secretary; Comrade Jimi Aniedi, Chairman, Akwa Ibom State Chapter; Comrade Monday Adeyemi, Chairman, Ondo State Chapter; Comrade Odede Dinikpete Tina, Chairman, Bayelsa State Chapter; Comrade Esinone Obatarhe Destiny, Financial Secretary; and Comrade Darego Frank Amah-Tariah, Chairman, Rivers State Chapter.