ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, YENAGOA
A coalition of 13 civil society organisations across the Niger Delta have demanded the immediate deployment of validly recruited and documented Niger Delta youths employed by the Niger Delta Development Commission since August 2019.
The coalition, under the aegis of the Coalition of Niger Delta Transparency Advocates, described the non-deployment of the affected youths 17 months after as selfish, wicked, unpatriotic and against the Niger Delta struggle.
It said that such an attitude remained some of the reasons for strife, agitations and underdevelopment of the region until date.
In a statement on Tuesday by some leaders of the coalition such as Mr Oghenekaro Duku (Watchdogs for Truth and Good Governance); Mr Ebi Ogolo (Graduates of the Niger Delta Movement); Mr Peter Johnson (Giant Strides of Niger Delta Force); and Amadi Frederick (Niger Delta People’s Movement), the CNDTA opined that the affected staff were duly issued official employment letters and duly documented with the NDDC.
The coalition said, “These qualified sons and daughters of the region were duly issued letters of employment and were well documented. As we speak, their respective files are in the Human Resources Department of the commission.
“Recall that this was exactly the same attitude displayed by the commission in respect of non-payment of benefits to the 2019 NDDC scholarship beneficiaries. They virtually had to protest abroad for what was due to them.
“Let it be known that as a coalition saddled with the vision of speaking for the oppressed in the Niger Delta region, we shall not watch the brains of the region being intimidated and shortchanged all because they haven’t resorted to violence.”
The coalition, therefore, warned persons behind fictitious groups to desist from instigating confusion over a long completed recruitment exercise which was duly approved by the appropriate authorities.”
The CNDTA added, “The move of sponsoring fictitious groups along ethnic lines to short-change the duly employed persons will not work.
“These employed youths have proofs that such a process was duly conducted since August 2019 and it is shameful that any group would come out to deny such a widely known process for whatever selfish interest.”
The CNDTA, while urging the public to disregard such unfounded reports, appealed to the management of the NDDC to do the right thing by releasing the deployment letters of the affected candidates.