Rights activist seeks technocrat as next NDDC chief executive, better oversight

Rights activist, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to pick a rounded professional from the oil-bearing communities of Delta State as next Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Noting that it was the turn of the South South state to ‘naturally’ clinch both the managing directorship and chairmanship of the interventionist agency, the Igba of Warri Kingdom rooted for a chief executive of Itsekiri ethnic stock.

She argued that the advocacy was informed by her conviction for fair play based on official figures that Itsekiri settlements in the three Warri council areas account for “17 per cent of Nigeria’s oil output and 50 per cent of Delta’s production.”

In a chat yesterday in Lagos, the woman leader stated: “We can’t allow the appointment of anyone who is not from the oil-bearing communities as chairman of the board or managing director of the commission. This campaign is in line with our pursuit of justice and equity for the long-suffering people of the Niger Delta.”

She added: “We also reject anybody parading himself as the political leader of the region on the false grounds that the President has handed over the region to him.”

Lori-Ogbebor pleaded with the Nigerian leader to sustain its firm disposition in the wake of the revelations thrown up by the investigation of the agency by the National Assembly, insisting that the commission should be directly under the Presidency for better supervision.