By Ozioruva Aliu

A former militant leader in Edo state, Ogidigba Godstime condemned the way and manner resources meant for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and other intervention agencies like the Presidential Amnesty and the Ministry of Niger Delta were being underutilised just as he accused the presidency of deliberately putting stooges at the helm of affairs of intervention agencies.

On the funding of the NDDC, Godstime said: “The NDDC has not been properly funded but the little that the Presidency has channeled into the NDDC is also being mismanaged by the leadership of the commission either in an interim or substantive capacity. We believe that every little resource that is channeled to the area should be judiciously used to develop the region because that region is crying for help but the problem is the imposition of leadership, the imposition of which manages the agency; this also includes the Amnesty Office and the Ministry of Niger Delta. Integrity does not come into play, a situation whereby the most corrupt human being in the Niger Delta because he is politically affiliated to Party x, y, z will be nominated to manage such an agency. Even we agitators cry from here to anywhere shouting that this person is corrupt, the government will give us deaf ears and that is why you see the issue of sea piracy, the issue pipeline vandalism, the issue of kidnapping have not stopped in the region because the bad leadership that has been imposed on the Niger Delta people by the federal government. Whoever will be appointed to manage any institution in the Niger Delta should be somebody of integrity.”

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On militarisation of the region compared to what is happening in the North East Development Commission (NEDC), he said “As we speak, in all our communities and villages in the Niger Delta region, there is nowhere you don’t find either military posts, base, houseboats, checkpoints or as the case may be but that has not solved the problem. The only thing that will solve the problem is to put the right person in the right position that will do the right thing.

“Now I ask, where is the federal government getting the money to fund NEDC? We strongly believe that the money being used to fund that Commission is derived from our resources here, it is the oil here and they are comfortable. What they hand over to be used to fund the Niger Delta, the northerners also determine who spends what and this is too bad and until we get those things right, the peace we are preaching in Nigeria will not come. We want equal rights and justice. Peace will come. If not our oil, where is the federal government getting money to fund the NEDC? The federal government is being unfair to the Niger Delta people.”

On allocation to the region, Ogidigba told Vanguard “The amount of money we here come to the region but the federal government is operating like the devil, they will give you this money with the right hand and collect it with the left hand. How does this happen? They make the money available to the agencies either the NDDC, Ministry of Niger Delta, or Amnesty office. Niger Delta would have been a good place but because the federal government knows what it is doing, they will place their man there as either SA on Amnesty or Minister of Niger Delta or MD of NDDC, they will put people who don’t have integrity, they will push the money to them I stand to be corrected go and find out the contractors in Amnesty office, in NDDC and Niger Delta Ministry, they are all from the north, 80 percent of the contractors are not from the Niger Delta. What stops the people from the Niger Delta from getting the contractors and they come back to spend the money for their people. Once they mobilise to site, it is as good as they have done the project and then people from the high places make calls and their money is paid.”