Fix East-West road, constitute NDDC board, Delta monarch charges FG

THE Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom, His Majesty, King Obukohwo Monday Arthur Whiskey Udurhie I, on Monday, charged the Federal Government to fix the dilapidated East-West Road as well as constitute the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The traditional ruler made the plea at a press briefing in his palace at Jesse town in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State.

He expressed worries over the delay in the inauguration of the board of the NDDC after the forensic audit and the avoidable insecurity and deaths caused by the deplorable state of the East-West road linking about six states across the Niger Delta.

“The East-West is about the only road linking about six states in the southern part of the country and we need the Federal Government to come fix it because the NDDC has failed woefully in addressing the deplorable condition of the road.

“The ministry of the Niger Delta has failed. Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Works should come to our rescue, fix the road and put in a mechanism that will enable regular maintenance of the road.

“As per NDDC today, illegality has been perpetrated by the Federal Government in the name of running NDDC for the past three years.

“If information available to me is anything to go by, if the Federal Government extends the tenure of the sole administrator of NDDC as it is being rumoured, it means it is the Federal Government that is encouraging the fraud that’s being perpetrated by the Minister of the Niger Delta,” the traditional ruler said.

“Let it be stated that NDDC has a sister agency called the North-East Development Commission which is still domiciled at the presidency as we speak.

“That the Federal Government would go and domicile NDDC with an individual so that the commonwealth of the people can be in the hands of an individual, is an illegality and we say no!

“The Federal Government is intentionally trying to wind up the activities of NDDC using someone as the messenger of doom. We’ll not keep quiet on this.

“Henceforth, all monies meant for NDDC should be paid into a special account except that meant for the salaries of staff until the inauguration of a statutory board recognised by the NDDC Act 2000.

“Except thay is done, many of our people will conclude that the Federal Government is collaborating with Akpabio to undo our people. That is the position of well-meaning Niger Delta citizens and mine,” he concluded.