Ijaw National Congress, INC, the leading Ijaw socio-cultural organisation, applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for taking the courageous decision to abolish the use of a sole administrator to lead the Niger Delta Development Commission or NDDC.
The Niger Delta region's residents, who had long demanded that the interventionist agency be run in accordance with the law establishing it, could be appeased by the President's decision to stop Mr Effiong Okon Akwa from being the last sole administrator in the Commission, according to a statement from the INC's president, Prof. Benjamin Okaba.
The INC statement, signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Engr Ezonebi Oyakemeagbegha, urged President Buhari to ensure that only credible persons with the interest of the Niger Delta region at heart should be appointed into the substantive Board.
The INC recalled that few weeks after its inauguration, their visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso rock Abuja, he (Buhari) made a firm promise to end the illegality in the NDDC with the constitution of a substantive Board and added that the President had proved himself a listening leader to be trusted in that regard.
INC further noted that the Niger Delta region had been denied the interests the NDDC was set up to serve, leading to infrastructural inadequacies and general underdevelopment, despite the region's immense contribution to the nation's economic growth.
However, the Ijaw foremost Organization expressed hope that the Presidency would soon announce members of the expected Board who will hit the ground running when it is constituted to address the developmental needs of the NDDC coverage areas.