By Onome Oghenetega
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) on Wednesday refuted call by its President urging President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
IYC President, Timothy Igbifa, had on Tuesday demanded for the sack of the Kemebradikumo Daniel Pondei-led IMC board, stressing that what the people of the Niger Delta needed is a substantive board.
Igbifa also accused the IMC of not being in touch with the people of the region saying that there is a big disconnect between the Pondei’s board and the people of the region.
However, in a statement on Wednesday signed by IYC spokesman, Ebilade Ekerefe, debunked the position of Igbifa, saying that what the IYC President said was his personal position and not the view of the Ijaw youths.
Ekerefe, while describing the call for the sack of IMC as “untrue”, noted that the position of Ijaw youths is reflected in the recent seven-point demands presented by the South South Governors during the last stakeholders meeting held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Ekerefe posited that instead of calling for the sack of the Pondei-led IMC, the sponsors of the purported report should focus on calling on President Buhari to focus on an appreciable increase in the funding allocated to the NDDC for smooth and effective delivery of the Federal Government mandate to the region.
It further urged President Buhari to prevail on the oil multinationals to ensure the 3 percent contributions to the NDDC account as provided in the Act establishing the Commission to ensure more development for oil communities in the region.
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The IYC spokesman blamed the under performance of the agency on “too much interference by government and political class.”
According to him, “what he expect the sponsors of the report to do is to intensify call on President Buhari to pay all outstanding allocation owed the NDDC. Also, increase its funding to meet up to the developmental challenges of the region occasioned by perennial flooding and the amendment of the Act establishing the NDDC to include a ‘deterrent clause’ to multinational oil companies which have refused to pay their obligatory three percent contributions to the NDDC to fast-track development in the fragile region.
“It’s quite sad and unacceptable that the IOCs’ will continue to treat the region with contempt and bracing impunity because the laws allows them to do so.
“NDDC has become a cash cow for politicians and too much interference is the real problem facing the commission, and this has also contributed to the agency not being able to achieve what the people of the region had expected.
“Our request as Ijaw Youths concerning NDDC is very simple, let the political class allow management to look at the mandate of commission and work according to the master plan of the agency.”
IYC, however, aligned itself with the seven-point demands as presented by the governors of the region on Resources Control, True Federalism and equitable development to the Niger Delta region.
