Ijaw youths fault inauguration of NDDC’s advisory committee without substantive board

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has berated President Mohammandu Buhari for inaugurating the advisory and monitoring committees for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) without a substantive board in place.

It insisted that the committee’s inauguration was akin to building a house without a foundation.

In a statement issued yesterday by President of the body of Ijaw youths worldwide, Eric Omare, the group said, “This is so because the NDDC is built on the tripod of Governing Board, Advisory and Monitoring Committees.

“The substantive board, which includes the management committee is to initiate and implement policies and programmes for the commission with the Advisory Committee offering advise to the board on initiation and execution of policies and programmes.

“Then the Monitoring Committee’s responsibility is to monitor execution of the policies and programmes embarked upon by the Board.

“Therefore, without a substantive Governing Board in place, it amounts to an exercise in futility and a violation of the NDDC Act for the President to appoint a Monitoring Committee and inaugurate Advisory Committee.”

Omare said Federal Government’s deliberate refusal to comply with the NDDC Act with respect to appointment of a substantive board under the guise of what he described as “an endless and opaque forensic audit” was baffling.

He added that the Niger Delta region had suffered unaccountable losses because of the absence of a board of the NDDC, noting that the Interim Management Committee (IMC) had spent billions of Naira without accountability and impact on the Niger Delta people.

“Therefore, we wish to state for the umpteenth time and call on President Buhari to inaugurate a substantive board for the NDDC without delay in compliance with the Act and in the interest of the region’s development. Having a board should not be an obstacle to NDDC’s forensic audit,” the statement added.