Group Advises Buhari On Chad Basin Oil-Search …Hails NDDC Board Dissolution

The Federal Govern
ment has been urged to review its priority attention on oil-search in the Chad Basin, in view of the exigencies in the oil sector and present economic realities of the country.
A Niger Delta group, Niger Delta Youth Coalition (NDYC) which gave the advice said it would make better sense if the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration suspends the oil-find in Chad Basin and divert the fund to other sectors of the economy.
The National Co-ordinator of NDYC, Prince Emmanuel Ogba, told The Tide Thursday at Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa that with the huge fall of crude oil price in the international market, it would be of better economic sense to shelve such project and dirver the attention of Federal Government to other urgent areas pending when the situation improves.
Ogba said, “NDYC had supported this ambitious project from the beginning, but you see, today from what we hear, we are begging for buyers of our crude even at very low price.
“The Federal Government has also emphasised the need for diversification of resources to other non-oil sector. Spending huge fund which runs into several billions into the project now is not in the best interest of the nation”.
The NDYC Co-ordinator explained that if such huge fund was diverted into agriculture, and other non-oil sectors, it would give better boost to the nation’s economy.
The group commended Buhari for dissolving the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), saying that the action of the government is in the good interest of the region and Nigeria at large.
The group advised the acting Managing Director of NDDC, Mrs Ibim Seminitari, to consider the development of poverty-driven communities of Niger Delta in her priority attention.
“The acting MD should avoid politics with the Commission, just as the former administrations and also shift away from urban areas and carry our poor rural communities along”, he said.

Chris Oluoh