PDP seeks stoppage of allocations to NDDC over alleged graft

South-South National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih, has urged the Federal Government to suspend allocations to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Interim Management Committee following litigations and alleged corruption in the commission.

Orbih stated this in Benin City, Edo State, at a thanksgiving service and reception to celebrate his emergence as PDP’s new South-South National Vice Chairman at its zonal congress in Port Harcourt, Rivers State recently.

Lamenting the wastage in the NDDC over failure to inaugurate a substantive board, Orbih said the massive fraud in the commission had denied Edo the expected development, as a Niger Delta state following the delay in constituting a board for the interventionist agency.

He appealed to governors of the Niger Delta states to reject the interim management and insist on a board that would promote the interest of the Niger Delta people and attract greater development to the region.

“I urge the Federal Government to stop playing politics with the development of the Niger Delta. We are in a situation where the Federal Government has refused to constitute the board of NDDC for obvious reasons.

“NDDC today is an institution of fraud and scandals to the detriment of the people of the Niger Delta region. Government must inaugurate a board where all the states in the South-South will be represented, so that the board can do exactly what they are mandated to do for the development of the region.

“We are sick and tired of the scandals in the NDDC. It is time for us to rise up and demand from the Federal Government to name a board that will serve the interest of the South-South. Until that is done, we demand that all allocations to the NDDC should be suspended until a board is put in place,” he stated.

He lamented that for too long, money meant for the development of the South-South was being wasted by the interim management committees, adding that the NDDC Act did not provide for what he described as “this Federal Government contraption.”

Orbih restated his call on the Federal Government to stop allocations to the interim management, because there was no board to serve the interest of the Niger Delta people.

He also charged Governor Godwin Obaseki to ensure that investigation of the Benin Storm Water Project and Benin Central Hospital were not swept under the carpet.

He added that the state government should, as a matter of necessity, investigate the projects and ensure that all the misappropriated money were recovered to further develop Edo State.