The Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, has said that Niger Delta Stakeholders would resist any interference with the administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). 

Diri noted that NDDC was created for specific purposes and that it remains independent of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

The governor made the clarification amid controversies over purported directive by the Niger Delta Ministry for Personnel Audit at the Commission,

He cautioned against any interference in the commission’s activities during a courtesy visit by the NDDC management to the Government House in Yenagoa, the state capital.

The visit by the NDDC management was to get him perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a prototype Hostel Building at the Niger Delta University, Amasoma, Bayelsa State; a project of the Commission.

Diri urged President ‘Buhari to urgently inaugurate a substantive Governing Board for the interventionist agency in line with extant Law.

He noted that the NDDC urgently needs a substantive Governing Board in order to meet the yearning of the people of the Niger Delta region in tandem with the mandate of the Commission.

According to him, “you can appoint a man from Kano State to head the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs but that cannot be done in the case of NDDC.

 “The Act setting up NDDC makes reference to only indigenes from the Niger Delta region. It is for this reason that an interim administration cannot really take tough decisions for fear of the security of his appointment.”

The Governor, meanwhile, appealed to the president “to resolve this overlap between the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the NDDC by constituting a governing board to run the affairs of the NDDC”.