The Akwa Ibom State chapter chairman of the Rescue Nigeria Youth Foundation (RNYF) has supported the call by its national president, High Chief Navy Stephen, for the immediate removal of the Sole Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR). The chairman argues that the Administrator has outlived his sense of responsibility, usefulness, and leadership. He believes that the Administrator’s service-driven approach benefits private individuals rather than the good people of the Niger Delta Region. Therefore, it is pertinent to relieve him of his duties at the agency. The chairman emphasizes the urgent need to restock the agency with fresh and seasoned technocrats and administrators who can collectively drive purposeful leadership and consolidate the organization for the general well-being of the Niger Deltans. This, he believes, will enable the implementation of visionary policies aimed at ameliorating the plight of the youths in the region. Removing the current blockage in the agency is seen as essential for progress.
The chapter chairman, Comrade Edidiong Etop Udi, further describes the continuous retention of the Sole Administrator of the NDDC by the Federal Government as a total jamboree and wastage of resources. He believes that the Administrator serves the personal interests of elites outside the regional base of the commission, to the detriment of the people of the Niger Delta Region.
Conversely, he views the purported “policy of engaging 1,000 youths in each of the Niger Delta States for Empowerment” as a hoax, scam, and dubious venture. He argues that the Sole Administrator designed it to fail, as there are no clear modalities and criteria for selecting beneficiaries.
When critically assessing the objectives of the NDDC’s youth empowerment program, it becomes apparent that it is built on corruption, which is seen by the people of the region as the worst fraudulent activity carried out by any NDDC in recent years.
Comrade Edidiong Etop Udi, the Akwa Ibom State chapter chairman, calls on Nigerians to critically evaluate the NDDC’s youth empowerment program, including its registration process, which disenfranchises millions of eligible youths in the region.
He also urges the Senate president, His Excellency Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio (CON), to intervene and address the inexplicable dubious intentions of continuous shortchanging of the Niger Delta people by the NDDC Administrator. He emphasizes the negative effects of such jamboree-like youth empowerment programs and their diminishing returns on a seemingly progressive interventionist agency like the NDDC and the well-being of the people in the region.
Finally, he calls for quick intervention by all relevant stakeholders in the region to urgently support and collectively affirm the immediate removal of the NDDC’s Sole Administrator.
