VANGUARD NEWS

Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom in Ethiope West Local Government Area, His Majesty, Monday Arthur Whiskey Udurhie I, and a member of the reconstituted Delta State Traditional Council has called on the Federal Government to end the ongoing illegality of administering NDDC with a Sole Administrator, which is unknown to the NDDC Act, and inaugurate the Commission’s statutory board.

According to the Monarch, “as per the NDDC, as it is today, illegality has been perpetuated by the Federal Government in the name of running NDDC for the past three years. If the 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 in the commission.

Udurhie spoke in his palace on Monday while addressing journalists.

His Majesty, Monday Arthur Whiskey further stated that “NDDC has a sister agency called the North East Development Commission (NEDC) which is still domiciled at the Presidency as we speak. That the FG would go and domicile NDDC with an individual so that the commonwealth of the people can be in the hand of an individual, is an illegality. We say no! The Federal Government is intentionally trying to wind up the activities of NDDC. We will not keep quiet on this.”

According to him, “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 that is done, many of our people will conclude that the Federal Government is collaborating with the minister to undo our people. That is the position of well-meaning Niger Deltans.”

Udurhie further stated, “Federal Government should return NDDC to the Presidency, and probe NDDC’s spending in the last three years. Should they fail to do that, they will still account for NDDC money one day.”

The monarch insisted that the FG “should stop funding NDDC except for the payment of staff. Monies meant for it should be lodged in a special account. Companies helping to fund NDDC should stop funding it for now. Such monies should be paid to a special account.”

According to him, “in my kingdom here, we’ve got notable NDDC projects that were abandoned. Nobody came here to look at them. So, where did they work?”

The monarch also tasked the Federal Government to fix the collapsed East-West road without further delay.

The monarch noted with concern that the East-West road, which is about the only road linking about six states in the southern part of the country, is presently in a terrible state of disrepair.