The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, CEO of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr. Samuel Igbuku, is a huge disappointment to the people of the Niger Delta region, Mayor Eshanekpe Israel, aka Akpodoro said in a statement at the weekend.
According to the October 4, 2024 statement made available by the Mayor of Urhoboland, Dr. Igbuku has decided to toe the lines of those before him in the mismanagement of the regional intervention agency by empowering opposition elements at the detriment of the progressives who worked tirelessly against all odds to enthrone the Renewed Hope administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
To the Mayor, Dr. Igbuku is playing the card of his godfather who facilitated his appointment into the office of the Managing Director by flagrantly denying the foot soldiers of the current administration access to benefit from the policies and programmes of the regional agency as put in place by the government.
Specifically, the vociferous Urhobo leader accused the NDDC boss of deliberately excluding the youths of Urhobo and other nationalities from the list of the 10,000 beneficiaries of the social intervention programme recently announced by the federal government to cushion the effects of the current economic hardship on the youths of the region.
The “well-thought-out initiative of the federal government to pay N50,000 each to ten thousand youths in the region but, from the benefit of hindsight, Igbuku has decided to fence out youths of Urhobo, Isoko and Ndokwa nations as he pursues his personal agenda.”
The Mayor said, such was the manners administrators of that agency behaved under General Muhammadu Buhari’s administration when the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP youths were empowered against youths of the All Progressives Congress, APC adding that the end result was that one of that directors attempted to feign fainting in the Senate Chambers during interrogation.
The Mayor seeks the sack of Dr. Igbuku to pave the way for the NDDC to make progress and meet the developmental needs of the region and her people stressing that, the current MD is an impediment to progress and should be relieved of his duty.
He noted that the process of choosing beneficiaries of the social programme is fraught with fraud and lopsidedness as he called on the government to suspend the exercise in the interest of peace and equity.
He said: “From the body language of the CEO, the project will benefit only his himself and associates” while the larger population of Niger Delta youths will be schemed out stating that, nepotism is a crime against humanity and the earlier the federal government nips the looming fraud in the bud the better for all.
“Igbuku is serving the interest of his godfather against public interest of the people of the region. NDDC is not an exclusive preserve of anyone and nobody is more Niger Deltan than the other and to that effect, the federal government should halt the process, filter out all the inherent vestiges of corruption and clean the list and come up with a clean slate.
He said the generality of Niger Deltans have lost confidence in Igbuku.
“I am calling for a probe into his activities as the MD of our NDDC. He is answerable to the people and he should render his stewardship to the government and the people of Niger Delta.
“We read through a recent rebuttal from the agency’s management of suspected fraudsters taking advantage of the loopholes created by the avoidable delays in releasing the list of the beneficiaries of the social intervention programme and we equally know that the disclaimer aims at covering up the dirty list drawn by the NDDC.
“Igbuku must be told in clear language by the federal government not to dare the people whom he was appointed to serve. To every action, there is equal and opposite reaction.
“He should not fall into the pit of unhealthy ethnic rivalry. At this junction the National Security Adviser to the President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu should beam searchlight on Igbuku. All we ask for is transparency and accountability,” the Mayor who is also the President of the National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, NCNDE-A stated.
