Bayelsa Expected To Produce Next Substantive NDDC Boss, WPI Reminds Buhari

The Watchdog for Progressive Ijaw (WPI) has said that Bayelsa State is the next in line to produce the substantive Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The stakeholders, in a statement signed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by its Coordinator, Lambert Olambo, said President Buhari had appointed an astute administrator, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, from Delta State, to act as the commission’s managing director.

Olambo described Audu-Ohwavborua as a consummate technocrat who understood the NDDC’s challenges as a director in the commission, and said the new acting managing director would redirect and refocus the agency to work in accordance with the Act that established it.

He praised Buhari for summoning the courage to put an end to the commission’s era of administrative impunity and urged all stakeholders to back Audu-Ohwavborua until a new board is appointed.

In the interest of justice, equity, and fairness, Olambo emphasised that other states in the region should support Bayelsa in producing the next substantive NDDC managing director.

Olambo stated that allowing any other state other than Bayelsa to occupy the top managerial position of NDDC would be unacceptable and a violation of the Act establishing NDDC, and he urged President Buhari to conduct due diligence on the matter in order to be properly guided before nominating the next managing director.

“We understand that some states are lobbying for it,” he said. According to our investigations, the governor of Ondo State relocated to Abuja in order to put pressure on the Presidency to nominate an Ondo resident as the next managing director of the NDDC.

“But the truth is that Ondo is not qualified to occupy that position. Those hanging around President Buhari and collecting money from desperate politicians seeking this juicy appointment are simply cashing out and deceiving people.

“The fact remains that the law establishing the NDDC rotates the chairman of the governing board of the NDDC alphabetically from A-R among the oil producing states, while the managing director rotates among the four states with the highest oil production quota. Ondo and even Edo states are not part of the four highest oil producing states as recommended by the Act.

“So, the recent agitation by Ondo and Edo states to have the MD slot is borne out of mischief and promoted by some selfish individuals around the President, who can do anything in exchange for money”.

Insisting that it was Bayelsa’s turn, Olambo said: “Since its establishment in 2000,  Akwa Ibom has produced two substantive managing directors; Delta has produced two; Rivers State has also got two, except Bayelsa which is the only state that has got only one MD among the four states.

“So the issue of Bayelsa in the line to produce the next substantive managing director is a matter that is evident and should not incur any contention. While the appointment of executive directors is at the prerogative of the President to assign portfolios as he deems necessary.

“Therefore, there is no iota of doubt that it is the turn of Bayelsa to have the managing director of the NDDC. Any attempt to do the contrary will not just be a breach of the Act establishing the commission, but also a recipe for crisis”.

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