By Dapo Akinrefon

The coalition of civil society in the Niger Delta region, United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy, UNDEDSS, on Thursday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on the National Assembly to desist from blackmailing the Interim Management Committee, IMC, of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

It also warned against “the current unjust practices in the region” and urged the Federal Government to live up to its responsibilities in the Niger Delta.

UNDEDSS, in a statement by its Secretary-General, Mr. Tony Uranta, stated that the Buhari administration was yet to show sincerity in remediation of the region, starting with the clean-up of Ogoniland.

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Uranta stated that the Presidency had not exhibited equity and fairness by not giving COVID-19 stimulus funds to states of the Niger Delta commensurate “to the region being the source of majority of funds in the national treasury.”

He said: “As we welcome the erudite Professor Ibrahim Gambari on board the presidential team, we anticipate a better working relationship between the Presidency and the region, such as delivered the unilateral ceasefire which the Nigerian economy has been benefiting from since 2016, even without agreed reciprocating action on the part of government.

“The region is determined to get the Federal Government to honour its own end of the bargain, before end 2020,” the UNDEDSS scribe continued.

“There is the clean-up of Ogoniland, the more robust funding for the Maritime University, the full installation and commissioning of the currently abandoned mega-dry dock (biggest in Africa) in the region, the completion of the sanitising and full funding of NDDC and the demilitarisation of the Niger Delta, among others.

“We applaud Mr. President for not allowing the self-aggrandisement driven campaign against the ongoing NDDC audit sway his resolve that the IMC cleans out the years of corruption in that prime federal interventionist agency in the region.

“We must end the many years of raping the Niger Delta with impunity. We know that even the Senate putative scheming against the Committee is not altruistic. The National Assembly must stop blackmailing the IMC.

“UNDEDSS shall also turn our X-ray on corrupt governance in the region’s state governments this year; but until Nigeria learns to systemically embrace independent monitoring and evaluation, corruption will never die in government ministries, departments and agencies.

“UNDEDSS commends the anti-COVID-19 initiatives of the federal, Lagos and Rivers states, and the Dangote-led corporate bodies. We specially salute doctors, nurses and all health workers for their selfless inimitable services, without which Nigeria would have long collapsed.”

Vanguard