George Onah
13 September, 2011, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt- Stakeholders in the Niger Delta have appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently implement the Steve Orosanye presidential panel on the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, “to save the impoverish people of the region from further hardship”.
In a communiqué, yesterday, the Niger Delta Contractors Association said it was regrettable that the NDDC, which is the only interventionist agency close to the people of the region is enmeshed in crisis that tends to set back the progress of the people
We appeal to the president to work out modalities to make the commission more functional to fast-track the development of the region and also take decisive action on the crisis that has deeply affected every project.
“We have the Niger Delta ministry, but how many jobless youths from the region have been given employment there? How many roads has the ministry constructed in the Niger Delta? All these things are done by the NDDC, which is why we are calling on the president to take a decisive action to salvage the commission from further crisis”.
Jointly signed by Chief Ernest Egbe and Sam Etim, President and secretary of the association respectively, the group said contractors handling various projects in the region ought to have returned to site during the August break but “lack of mobilization by the commission has made that impossible because of the crisis”.
NIDECA regrets that the Commission was unable to implement the 2011 annual budget which it said was related to the long rift in the NDDC.
The group, however, expressed satisfaction over the uprightness and sincerity of the 8-man committee “for doing a good job”, adding that the recommendations should be fully implemented for the benefit of the Niger Delta region.
