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Home » News » NDDC board: N’Delta monarchs wary of Akpabio, charge him to keep his word
NDDC board: N’Delta monarchs wary of Akpabio, charge him to keep his word
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By Emma Amaize
ASABA TWO Niger-Delta monarchs have asked the Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, not to fail on his promise in January that the board of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, would be inaugurated in April.
Former national chairman, Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, HM Charles Ayemi-Botu, Udurhie 1, the Ovie of Idjerhe kingdom, Delta State, HRM Obukowho Whiskey, who did not disguise their feeling about the minister, made the call on Monday.
‘Still Far from a Country’
In my piece of 4/9/2018 titled “Still Far from a Country”, I said: “Today, most of the signs that Nigeria may be on its way to being a failed State, are apparent. Even if we do not qualify to be called a failed State, Nigeria is certainly a dysfunctional, fragile/crisis State”. I gave some reasons for my assertion – weak and failing institutions, poor infrastructure, insecurity and internal violence (Boko Haram, Robbers and Herdsmen), poverty, hunger and suffering of majority of Nigerians, greedy elite, political shenanigans, high level of corruption and its siblings – tribalism, nepotism etc. The Financial Times of London (FT)’s 22/12/20 edition’s article titled “Nigeria is at risk of becoming a failed State”, is therefore, not stating anything novel nor is it a surprise – many Nigerians have said the same. Apart from restating many of the reasons that I gave for my assertion in its submission, the FT stated thus: “the definiti
The Niger Delta Peoples’ Forum is shocked at the puerile attempt to turn truth on his head, in an incoherent statement of fallacies credited to the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, published in Vanguard newspaper of December 18, 2020, captioned “Akpabio justifies appointment of sole administrator for NDDC.”
In unwinding and contradictory statements Akpabio falsely averred that “the appointment of a sole administrator for the NDDC today cannot be regarded as illegality” because according to him, it is based on precedence. Nothing can be further from the truth.
In the statement as reported by Vanguard, Akpabio stated that “even the first executive director of finance and administration acted as sole administrator of NDDC at various times, we have also had a sole administrator from Rivers State in the person of Semenitari, we have also had one from Cross River State, as well as Mrs. Enyia from Bayelsa while awaiting the confirmation of