Onyedi Gabriel, Port Harcourt
Aggrieved youths and women from the Niger Delta region have stormed the Headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission to protest allegations of corruption rocking the commission.
The protesters, who carried placards with different messages, arrived at the commission’s headquarters located along Aba Road, Port Harcourt , at 10 am on Monday, and demanded that money stolen from the commission be returned to the region.
One of the protesters, Namond Grace, who was close to tears, lamented the poverty in the region saying they were dying of hunger while a few individuals were busy cornering their commonwealth.
Grace said their children could no longer go to school because billions of naira meant to develop the region had been diverted by a few persons, who used resources to send their children to expensive schools abroad and to maintain grandiose lifestyle.
She said, “We are hungry and our children cannot go to school because some persons have diverted the money meant for us. They use our money to send their children to expensive schools abroad; build mansions and drive expensive cars while we live in abject poverty. They must bring all the money meant for us.”
The leader of the protest and Executive Coordinator, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), Fyneface Dumnamene, called for the prosecution of persons indicted in the looting of the commission.
He called on the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to immediately resign his position for allegedly mismanaging the affairs of the region.
Dumnamene further asked the Presidency to scrap the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC, saying such arrangement was alien to the Act establishing the interventionist agency.
He said, “We are here to protest against the alleged looting of funds meant for the development of the Niger Delta. We demand the development of the region. We are calling for the resignation of the minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, based on the ways he has handled the affairs of the Niger Delta.
“We are calling for the scrapping of the IMC. It is not in the NDDC Act that we should have such committee. We should have a substantive board. We are calling for the prosecution of those who allegedly looted the funds meant for our development.
“We can’t continue to have an agency meant to develop the people as a conduit for corrupt people. They go there to take money to enrich themselves at the expense of the people of the region. So, we are demanding that this NDDC issue be taken very seriously. The forensic audit of the commission from inception till date should continue.”
END.