Comrade Ighomi Urges FG To Inaugurate NDDC Board Now

The President of Association of Coastal and Waterways Communities of Nigeria (ACWCN), Comrade Bawo Ighomi has risen strongly to appeal to the Federal government to inaugurate now, the board of Niger Delta Development Company  (NDDC), insisting that the matter is of an urgent one which should not be delayed further.

Comrade Ighomi who felt strongly about his advocacy during the official inauguration of 25 local government ACWCN executives  in Delta state, maintained that such action would undoubtedly enhanced in no small measure the ability and drive of the ACWCN officials in doing their jobs effectively, thereby delivering a satisfied and finished works.

“This will provide the FG the desired result in developing and protecting the Waterways Communities of Nigeria environment,“ he submitted.

It is worthy to note that NDDC was instituted as a Federal government’s monitoring and intervention agency, whose motive is to develop the Niger Delta, geographically located in difficult terrain.

To ensure that NDDC functions at his optimal level, the FG made sure that the board had all the nine states in Niger Delta represented on it.

In 2019, an approved board by the Senate was suspended and instead, a forensic audit and interim management committee was set up some time last year.

Interestingly, the final audit result report was finally submitted to the President. But sadly, till now the report has not been made public and the new management team is yet to be put in place. As a result, sizable number of contractors have not been paid.

Following this obvious stagnation, there have been so many agitations from various quarters. Disturbingly, the government does not appear to be moved by this situation.

Comrade Ighomi observed that the government is doing their best, but lamented that they cannot function as a duly endorsed board with representatives across the nine states of the Niger Delta.

The ACWCN president, however, pledged that his association representing all the Coastal and Waterways Communities in Niger Delta, will work pretty hard with NDDC to monitor projects and hold the necessary town hall meetings with the various communities, on behalf of the NDDC.

He noted that this is to know the affected Waterways Communities’ pressing and expected needs, and to enable them do something fast in addressing their challenges as expected instead of dumping irrelevant projects forcefully on them.

Ighomi strongly believed that NDDC should submit total list of projects and names of contractors handling them to ACWCN for the necessary monitoring and proper execution of those projects.

“Finally, we appeal seriously to the government to kindly reconsider their position and inaugurate fast  an authentic board for the NDDC, so as to make our advocacy a dream come true,” Ighomi submitted.