South East, South South professionals warn against scrapping of NDDC

Urge consideration of Oronsaye report by govt
South East and South South Professionals of Nigeria (SESSPN), yesterday, faulted calls for the scrapping of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Instead, it urged the Federal Government to constitute a panel of professionals for the interventionist agency and the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to turn the region around.

Edo chapter chairman of the group, Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo, also appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to revisit the Stephen Oronsaye panel report on merging of ministries, department and agencies or compose a fresh one to actualise the founding missions of the organisations.

He made the remarks yesterday in Benin City while briefing journalists at the end of an emergency meeting of the body against the backdrop of calls in some quarters demanding that NDDC be scrapped following revelations from its probe by the National Assembly,

Edokpolo lamented the floodgate of contract scams within the management of the agency and federal lawmakers on the one hand, and the “crass somersault from the founding mission of the Presidential Amnesty Programme” on the other.

His words: We do respectfully resolve to appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to revisit the spirit and letters of the Stephen Oronsaye panel on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) or constitute a fresh panel aimed at resuscitating the founding missions of these interventionist agencies.

“It is lamentable, appalling, debasing and in fact, a grave threat to governance – the deplorable deviation from due process and ethical standards in these two Federal Government supposedly interventionist agencies – which are allegedly submerged in decadence and wanton corruption.

“Without prejudice to the partisan interests of NDDC and PAP managements, we have it on good authority, that over 80 per cent of projects executed by these agencies were based on powers-that-be expediency, rather than host community needs’ assessment reports.”

He continued: “In a global envisioned era of community development sustainability, it is most irresponsible to still find supposedly interventionist agencies lagging behind in community’s scale of preferences as to needs’ assessment.

“We wish to place on record without fear or hindrance that the end product of corruption and crass misappropriation of public values is resentment, youth restiveness, insurgency and existential threats to our fragile nationhood.

“The three geopolitical regions of southern Nigeria desire deliberate needs’ assessment-based programme conceptions for these interventionist agencies, if they are to remain relevant to the infrastructure and human capital aspirations of our people.”