By George Onah
Port Harcourt
A coalition of youth groups in the Niger Delta has called on the Federal Government to sack both the management and board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, over alleged “monumental fraud” in the place.
But another coalition of 26 Rivers youth bodies has sent a representation to President Goodluck Jonathan urging the president to ignore the groups of “diabolical and faceless bodies calling for the removal from office of the NDDC Managing Director Mr. Chibuzor Ugwuoha.
However, the Niger Delta youths said they were shocked at the level of financial impropriety in the NDDC and that “the EFCC should be invited by the government to look into the books of the commission particularly the (alleged) transfer of funds to foreign countries by the management”.
Speaking to Vanguard separately in Port Harcourt, weekend, president of the Rivers Youth Federation Prince Biira said a planned demonstration was being slated to chase the management out of the commission’s premises “if the federal government does not act within four weeks of the warning”.
Also, Leader of Youth for Democratic Realities Mr. Robertson Jack said there was need for a complete overhaul of the NDDC, “in view of the large scale fraud in the commission and we have documents to back-up our claims at the appropriate time”.
Right now nothing has been done to improve the lives of the people of the Niger Delta people because all that is being heard on paper, radio and television is the millions of naira spent on ghost projects. Abject poverty and degradation of environment is still the lot of the people.
On its part the Rivers forum, led by its coordinator, Comrade Emeni Ibe in a press conference on Saturday, reasoned that those calling for the removal of Ugwuoha were being propelled from outside and urged the presidency not to pander to the scheme of such people.
