Youths protest, demand Delta indigene as next MD of NDDC

Youths of oil-producing communities in Delta State, yesterday, besieged the premises of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Warri, demanding the appointment of a Deltan as the next managing director (MD) and chairman of the commission.

The Itsekiri, Urhobo, Ndokwa and Isoko youths displayed various placards asking the federal government to follow the NDDC Act for appointments of MD and chairman.

Marching from Don Donmigos College gate through Shell gate to the NDDC office in Warri, they chanted songs of lamentation. Speaking during the protest, the presidents of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Eric Omare; Urhobo Youth Council (UYC), Festus Otesiri, and Isoko National Youth Assembly (INYC), Ovie Umuakpo, as well as the first national vice president of the Itsekiri National Youth Council, Godwin Okotie, urged the federal government to be fair and prevent moves that might hinder peace and development.

Omare said: “From 2001 to 2018, all the major oil-producing states – Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom – have produced the MD. Logically, it follows that the next MD will go to the state where the rotation started, which is Delta.

“If we don’t do what is proper, if we don’t follow the rule of law, it will create room for anarchy and disunity. If the rotation is strictly followed as it ought to be, it will engender peace in the Niger Delta.”