By Akpokona Omafuaire
IDJERHE - THE Paramount ruler of oil-rich Idjerhe Kingdom, His Majesty, Obukohwo Monday Whiskey, Udurhie I, yesterday called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently relocate the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to the Presidency, as it was before 2019.
The monarch said, this will save NDDC from "undue interference" from bureaucrats thus enabling the interventionist agency to effectively actualise its mandates.
The revered Monarch made the call while addressing journalists at a press conference in his palace.
The traditional ruler also tasked the newly constituted Board of NDDC to revisit the abandoned projects in Idjerhe kingdom, and also put in place plans for new ones so that the benefits that are associated with oil that my kingdom is producing can be visibly felt.
Udurhie I lamented that the NDDC, as a Federal Government interventionist agency, has in the past three years failed to live up to their corporate social responsibilities for the oil producing communities.
The Journalist turned monarch however blamed the scenario mainly on "a lot of undue interference orchestrated by the leadership of the Federal Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs."
According to him, "In essence, therefore, I have no hesitation in calling on Mr. President to, as a matter of urgent national importance, relocate NDDC from the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to the Presidency as it was before 2019 because, before 2019, the NDDC was domiciled in the Presidency, and at that time, interference were very minimal.
"Returning NDDC to the Presidency, as it is currently done to the North East Development Commission, a sister agency of the same equal status with the NDDC, will restore sanity in the Commission.
"We all know that North East Development Commission is working perfectly well now that it is domiciled in the Presidency.
"So, there is no tenable reason why NDDC should now be domiciled with the Federal Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs, to allow for this undue interference.
"I believe that the current Board of the NDDC will work better if they are answerable to the Presidency and not answerable to one politically inclined individual.
"That is the issue. That is the analogy. Take NDDC back to the Presidency for the purpose of ease of administration." He stated.
The King while urging the newly-constituted NDDC Board to be seen as hitting the ground running tasked the Board members to put in their best in carrying out the agency's mandates.
He also appealed to NDDC's funding partners, notably the international oil corporations who are helping to fund the Commission, to continue to keep their own side of the mandates "as NDDC needs adequate funding to enable it carry out its very many responsibilities, especially executing the abandoned projects."
The monarch further said, "So much money have been kept aside in view of what has happened in the past three years. All those money that have been kept aside for the Board should be released now that the statutory board has been constituted.
"I call on the Federal Government to urgently wade in and release to the current NDDC Board all funds due the agency so that they can go to sites almost immediately.
"A lot of abandoned projects are lying waste in the various mandate areas due to scarcity of funds which made contractors not to return to sites.
"Releasing those funds to the current Board will help the Commission greatly in a hieving the desired result for which the agency was set up."
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