IYC hails Buhari over new NDDC board 

Port Harcourt — The Ijaw Youths Council, IYC, Worldwide has applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for nominating a seasoned administrator from Bayelsa State, Chief Samuel Ogbuku, as the substantive managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

IYC President, Timothy Peter Igbifa, said the announcement of the much-awaited board members on the floor of the Senate has brought relief to the council and all stakeholders in the Niger Delta.

Igbifa said the proposed board, when inaugurated, would reestablish the democratic administration of the commission as envisaged by the act establishing the NDDC and end the era of autocratic impunity at the interventionist agency.

He recalled how IYC  and other well-meaning stakeholders sustained protests against the concepts of a sole administrative model in running the affairs of the NDDC, describing it as as alien to the Act establishing the commission.

“We were relentless in mobilising our people in the Niger Delta to resist the sole administration foisted on NDDC, that negated the principles of equity, fairness and justice enshrined in the Act, which stipulates that a board with representatives from all the member states must at all time run the affairs of the commission.

“We are happy that our efforts as a council have paid off and we commend President Muhammadu Buhari for doing the right thing. It is better late than never.”

He said the nomination of Chief Samuel Ogbuku, a Bayelsan from Ogbia Local Government Area, as the substantive Managing Director was in agreement with the NDDC Act insisting that “it is the right of Bayelsa to produce the MD,” Igbifa said.

He, however, urged the Senate not to delay the screening of the board nominees to avoid unnecessary politicking capable of derailing the directive of President Buhari and aborting the collective hope of the Niger Delta.

He described Ogbuku as a well-read, seasoned administrator, who understood the problems and challenges of the Niger Delta and has the capacity to confront them, insisting that his appointment was deserving.