Niger Delta monarch demands sack of Akpabio over abandoned NDDC projects

FRUSTRATED by the number of abandoned Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) projects in his domain, the traditional ruler of Idjerhe Kingdom, King Obukowho Monday Whiskey, has called for the immediate sack of the Minister of the Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio.

The monarch, while decrying the number of NDCC’s abandoned projects in his kingdom, maintained that it had become obvious that Akpabio, as a supervising minister of the Commission,  had not lived up to the expectations of the people of the Niger Delta region, hence the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to ship the minister out of his cabinet.

King Whiskey, who spoke at his Jesse Palace, lamented that all efforts to speak out against the ills of the Commission against the region and to draw the attention of President Buhari to their plight had not yielded any positive results, adding that it was becoming more embarrassing that months after the National Assembly probe of the Commission and the much hyped forensic auditing of its activities, those effort appeared more academic and fruitless.

He, therefore, appealed to President Buhari to rescue the Niger Delta, adding that all multi-national operating in the region should relocate their headquarters to where the resources are sourced in accordance with the elementary economic dictate of ‘nearness to raw materials.’

“I believe the happenings in the NDDC are not new to anybody in this region. President Muhammadu Buhari must come to the rescue of the Niger Delta people at this critical time. If giving agencies to ministries is to make it more effective, then the intention to domicile NDDC with the ministry of Niger Delta has failed completely.

“This is because we have come to now notice that it was domiciled in the Ministry of Niger Delta for political reasons, so that one individual can dictate the pace of development or economic empowerment of individuals and organisations in the entire oil and gas producing states of the country.

“The honourable minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, has done many damages to the region of the oil producing communities and as a result of this I have no hesitation to tell Mr.President to sack the Minister of Niger Delta now.

“Looking into what he has done in the past three years, we have enough reasons to believe that the commonwealth of the people of the Niger Delta is what individuals are squandering and we cannot continue on that path.

“If you recall, the NDDC Act 2000 has no place for sole administrator or interim management committee. We left the stage of interim management committee to the stage of Sole Administrator. You are all aware that distinguished Nigerians, notable sons and daughters of the oil producing communities were nominated by President Buhari.”

“They were screened and confirmed by the National Assembly. It behooves on President Buhari to live up to his constitutional responsibilities by inaugurating the already screened and confirmed board of the NDDC under the chairmanship of His Excellency, Dr. Pius Odubu and his deputy, Olorogun Bernard Okumagba.

“What is happening here in the NDDC is a shame. As I speak, there are notable projects that are supposed to be ongoing in the Idjerhe kingdom, a notable oil and gas kingdom in the Niger Delta region and nothing is happening.

“Some many NDDC projects scattered all over the kingdom that are abandoned. In the face of this, I cannot preside over a kingdom where all projects are abandoned and I go to one corner and be clapping for one individual, never.”