Niger Delta
N’Delta Group Urges Buhari To End Illegality In NDDC
Civil Society group, Niger Delta United Congress (NDUC), has flayed President Muhammadu Buhari for allowing the ongoing illegality of sole administrator contraption at Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which it described as a “breach of the law governing the operation of the commission.”
According to President of the group, Ebizomor Brisibe, the President’s action has emboldened “certain officials of this government to try and divert attention from the collective legitimate demands of authentic Niger Delta stakeholders for the inauguration of the NDDC Governing Board, in compliance with NDDC Enabling Act, to ensure proper corporate governance, and equitable representation of the nine constituent states.”
According to NDUC, this stems from a story in ThisDay on January 9, 2022, with the headline “NDDC to complete more abandoned projects in 2022.” In the report, the NDDC Sole Administrator, Effiong Akwa, was reported to have made the statement at a “supposed virtual meeting with stakeholders from the nine states of the Niger Delta.”
The group observed that in furtherance of the “ongoing illegality in NDDC, Effiong Akwa assembled some amorphous stakeholders for an “apparently contrived virtual meeting to announce plans to complete projects, which will enable him to further administer the funds of the commission illegally.”
NDUC strongly advised President Buhari to put a stop to this “illegality because it is also an affront on the entire Niger Delta region that has been made to painfully endure two years of illegal interim managements/sole administrator contraptions that are unknown to the NDDC Establishment Act.”
The foremost group insists that it is in “breach of the NDDC Act for the current Sole Administrator or anyone else to administer the NDDC and utilise the huge funds accruing to it on a monthly basis without passing through the legal requirement as stipulated in the NDDC Act.”
Niger Delta authentic stakeholders, it stated, therefore frown at the suggestion by Akwa of his intention to continue to “administer the funds that accrue monthly to NDDC when his position is unknown to the law setting up NDDC.”
Brisibe further explained that the continued illegality of the sole administrator contraption currently foisted on NDDC since October 2019 is in breach of the law – NDDC Act which clearly requires that the Board and management (comprising the MD and two EDs) shall be appointed by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, subject to the confirmation of the Senate. Sadly, it noted that “presently, the illegal NDDC Sole Administrator singularly acts as the Managing Director, the Executive Director of Finance and Administration, and Executive Director of Projects, with no checks and balances, proper corporate governance, and probity in administering the Commission.”
NDUC further observed that the NDDC Act only provides that the Board and Management of the NDDC at any point in time should follow the provisions of the law which states that the “Board and management is to be appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. In effect, nobody is supposed to begin to administer the NDDC and utilise the huge funds accruing to it on a monthly basis without passing through this legal requirement as stipulated in the NDDC Act. To the detriment of the entire region, these illegal interim contraptions/sole administrator contraptions have been fleecing the NDDC of its funds in the last two years.”
According to NDUC, President of Ijaw National Congress (INC), Professor Benjamin Okaba, in an interview with a national daily on October 17, 2021, stated that there has been “unceasing irregularities and lack of due process in NDDC since October 2019 when the illegal interim management/sole administrator contraptions have been in place, administering a combined two-year budget of N799 Billion for 2019 and 2020, as approved by the National Assembly.”
The Delta State Waste Management Board has emphasised the need for stakeholders to work closely with waste managers to reduce the outbreak of epidemic in the state.
Chairman of the Delta State Waste Management Board, Mr Emma Chinye, made the call in a statement in which he urged Delta residents to change their attitude to waste management and environmental practices.
According to him, evacuation of waste is everybody’s responsibility as negative effect always got back to the people.
“The board has engaged youths in Asaba to check the indiscriminate dumping of waste at market place and other parts of the state in order to eliminate illegal dumping of refuse,” he said in the statement.
He called on the residents to report any private sector participant (PSP) who failed to do his job , while urging PSP officers to be diligent in discharging their duties.
According to him, Delta government was making plans to acquire more dump sites across the State, adding that government has made provision for tipping trucks to be available in 25 LGAs.
“On the problems of the dumpsite, what happened last year would not be experience again. Government is making frantic effort to ensure it does not repeat itself,”he said.
The Delta State Commissioner for Secondary Education, Mrs Rose Ezewu, has urged parents to always check the activities of their children in order to ensure they were not negatively influenced by peer groups.
Ezewu gave the advice when the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) paid her a courtesy visit, statement from the Ministry said.
Emphasizing on the need for stakeholders to intensify efforts toward tackling violence against the girl-child, she said most parents do not want their children to take correction from their teachers, saying that this narrative is not good for the future of the children and the society in general.
“The Ministry is willing and ready to partner with the civil society organisation in addressing issues of moral decadence among students,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of the Coalition of the CSOs, Mr Cyril Olomukoro of the ‘Make Your Life Count’ Civil Society Organisation, said the coalition comprises seven different registered and non-governmental organisations.
According to him, their aim is to educate and sensitise schools, market and communities on issues of gender based violence and how it can be avoided as well as help abused/ violated persons.
“The coalition is presently working with FIDA in Delta to provide pro-bono services to vulnerable people especially women and children.
“We equally offered free legal services to women and girls survivors of gender based violence,” he said.
He urged the Ministry to collaborate with them on pro-bono to sensitise and educate students, youths and women so as to render assistance to the abused or violated individuals among them.
A total of 112,759 final year pupils of public and private primary schools in Delta State sat for the 2022 entrance examination into its secondary schools at the weekend.
Permanent Secretary, Delta State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Augustine Oghoro, made the declaration in Asaba on Saturday while monitoring the 2022 Cognitive/placement examination.
Describing the conduct of the examination as successful, he said, “the Ministry is satisfied with the peaceful conduct of the examination at the centres visited,’’.
The Commissioner for Secondary Education,Mrs Rose Ezewu, who monitored the examination in Delta Central and some parts of Delta South, said the examination was unique as it was the foundation of the pupils’ educational pursuits.
“I am satisfied with the commitment of the pupils that sat for the examination,’’ she said.
In his remarks, the Director of Examinations, Mr Sunday Egomaguna, said Delta was committed to setting the pace in the conduct of examinations.
Also speaking, the proprietor of a group of private schools in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area, Mr Fidelis Egugbo, said he was optimistic about the successes of the candidates.
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