Why Buhari Should Inaugurate Senate-Screened NDDC Board

In the wake of the renewed tension that has enveloped the Niger Delta and the clarion calls by eminent groups from the region for the inauguration of the 2019 Senate-Screened NDDC Board, Duke Okporua urges President Muhammadu Buhari to write his name in gold by honouring his commitment of June 24, 2021 to inaugurate the Board upon completion of the forensic audit

As a frontline grass root and Civil Society Movement in Nigeria, we reiterate our call on President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) that was screened and confirmed by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the 5th of November, 2019.

The NDDC Governing Board was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2019. However, after the nominees were screened and confirmed by the Nigerian Senate on the 5th of November 2019, Mr President asked that the inauguration of the Board be put on hold pending the completion of the forensic audit, for which an Interim Management Committee was appointed for the NDDC. The Federal Government announced during the inauguration ceremony of the IMC that the Senate-Confirmed NDDC Board will be inaugurated after the forensic audit.

President Muhammadu Buhari has already nominated a Board for the NDDC in October 2019 whose members were vetted by all relevant agencies of the federal government following which they were screened and confirmed by the Nigerian Senate on November 5 2019. They are only now waiting to be inaugurated. Mr President has restated his intention to inaugurate the Board on the completion of the forensic audit by the end of July 2021.

In a recent and renewed statement to the press for the people of the Niger Delta region in particular and the entire Nigerian people in general and signed by its leadership –we stated as follows: “That Mr. President who is known both locally and globally as a man of unquestionable integrity and honesty, should fulfil his promise on the inauguration of the already screened and confirmed board of the NDDC.”

We wish to remind Mr. President that on the 24th of June 2021, while receiving a delegation of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), he promised in very clear terms that he would inaugurate the already screened and confirmed board of the NDDC on conclusion and receipt of the report of the forensic auditors.

The president said: ‘‘Based on the mismanagement that had previously bedeviled the NDDC, a forensic audit was set up and the result is expected by the end of July, 2021. I want to assure you that as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted, the NDDC Board will be inaugurated”

On Monday, August 9, 2021, the Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio, confirmed that the Forensic Audit Report is now ready and would soon be submitted to President Buhari.

We hereby call on him to live up to this promise and inaugurate the board immediately and without delay, now that the report of the Forensic Auditors has been concluded

We firmly believe that inaugurating the 2019 Senate screened board will put to shame those who are in doubt of President Buhari’s sincerity, commitment and sleepless nights in surmounting the challenges of moving Nigeria to the next level.

We align ourselves and our members with the calls, demands and peaceful agitations of youths, men and women, political and traditional leaders and civil society organisations in Nigeria, that the inauguration of the already screened board of NDDC will promote and sustain peace, equity and fairness, transparency and accountability, good governance and rapid development and transformation of the Niger Delta Region, and douse the tension of militancy as well as curtail the menace of insecurity in the region.

We pledge our total support and loyalty to Mr. President in his determined efforts and sleepless nights in making Nigeria an egalitarian, just, equitable and prosperous nation, bound in freedom, peace and unity, far better than he met it in 2015.

We also pledge our solidarity with the President in the fight against terrorism and banditry and his zeal to improve the economy, provide infrastructure and make life more meaningful to the Nigerian people.

The earnest inauguration of the NDDC Board will ensure fair representation of the nine constituent states, accountability in the utilisation of the NDDC funds, checks and balances and due process in the Commission in compliance with the NDDC Act.

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***Duke Okporua is a member of the Executive Council of Mass Movement Against INJUSTICE and Marginalizaion in the South-south