HOSCON advises the FG to ignore the calls to scrap NDDC

The Host Communities Producing Oil and Gas in Nigeria (HOSCON) has advised the Federal Government (FG) to ignore the calls by some groups and persons to scrap the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

It made the call just as the Niger Delta Development Initiative (NDDI) implored President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the commission’s board.

Read also: Buhari fires NDDC management, appoints sole administrator

In a statement Thursday, HOSCON’s National Leader, Prof. Jasper Jumbo, said the call for an end to the NDDC  was “irresponsible, an insult and gross disregard and disrespect of the untiring efforts” of prominent Niger Deltans to ensure a better deal for the oil-bearing communities in the country.

He acknowledged the fact that the NDDC had not fully lived up to its expectations, ‘primarily due to the fact that the successive managers and directors of the commission” did not understand the vision of those that birthed the intervention agency.

Jumbo, therefore, suggested the appointment of “patriotic Nigerians who are genuinely committed to the Niger Delta struggle” into the board and management of the commission.

Read also: Buhari Extends Tenure of NDDC Interim Management Committee

Also on Thursday, the NDDI drew the attention of President Buhari to the illegalities currently going on in the NDDC and advised him to urgently act by inaugurating its board.

In a petition by its President, Chief Ebikalome Anselm and Secretary Johnson Oghenekevbe, the group reminded Buhari that the 13-member board had been confirmed by the Senate and therefore wondered why they had yet to be inaugurated.

The NDDI urged Buhari to sack Senator Godswill Akpabio, the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, for allegedly taking over the functions of the NDDC.

Read also: Buhari dissolves NDDC IMC, appoints Sole Administrator