Odahiekwu Ogunde, Yenagoa
Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide has shelved its plan to shut down the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission over the appointment of a sole administrator in the place of a substantive board.Spokesman for the IYC, Mr Ebilade Ekerefe, statec this during a press conference in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, on Sunday.Ekerefe said the suspension of the planned protest at the NDDC head office was due to the consultations with critical stakeholders and leaders of thoughts within the region and to allow the Sole Administrator, Effiong Akwa, to superintend the conclusion of forensic audit of the commission.Ekerefe stated: “We are irrevocably committed to ensuring that a substantive board for the NDDC with fair representation of the nine-member states of the region making up the commission is immediately constituted as enshrined in the NDDC Act.”On the issue of protest, let me reiterate that those against the protest are at variance with the overwhelming majority of Ijaw youths who have concluded plans to embark on a peaceful, but decisive demonstration at the NDDC headquarters to press home the demands of the region. “Such conscious mass movements cannot be terminated because of the appointment of a former IYC President Udengs Eradiri as Special Adviser on Youths to the Sole Administrator. However, as a former president of the IYC, he will enjoy our support and collaboration in discharging his duties effectively to the admiration of all.”Therefore, having consulted with critical stakeholders and leaders of thoughts within the region, critical organs of Council, we therefore resolved to put on hold the planned ‘Mother of All Protests’ at the Headquarters of NDDC in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.”The suspension is to allow the Sole Administrator superintend over the conclusion of the forensic audit as alluded by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.”The spokesman urged the external forensic auditors to hasten up their assignment and conclude it within the stipulated April timeline as Ijaw youths would not tolerate excuses anymore for negligence, warning that their plan to carry out a protest was still on course if the substantive board was not inaugurated by April.He called on the sole administrator to work for the interest of the region within the timeline especially in initiating policies and programmes that would build the capacities of youths in areas of skills acquisition/empowerment. Ekerefe urged Akwa to ensure the payment of tuition fees to beneficiaries of the NDDC foreign scholarship scheme, payment of indigenous contractors whose monies are still tied down in the commission despite the completion of such projects as well as make sure that other priority projects that would stimulate the economy of the region were pursued.He added that going forward, the IYC would continue to monitor and ensure that the just approved 2020 budgetary provisions accrued to the NDDC were prudently and justly used for the development of the people of the region.