Appointment of NDDC sole administrator based on court injunction ― Akpabio

TRACKING____The Minister, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio has said that the recent take-over of the administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by a sole administrator was necessitated by a court injunction issued by Justice A.R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja and not an official appointment made by the Federal Government.

Senator Akpabio made this statement when he met with representatives of the forensic auditing team who were in his office in Abuja to submit a progress report of the on-going forensic auditing of the NDDC.

The minister noted that the leadership of the commission held by Mr Effiong Akwa was not permanent and would only last the duration of the forensic auditing after which a board would be inaugurated.

Speaking further, Akpabio said the ministry is starting the year with renewed vigour and would ensure that it gives priority to achieving the mandate given by President Muhammadu Buhari to revitalize the Niger Delta region.

“The key programme for the Niger Delta is the completion of the East-West road particularly Section I-IV and I’m happy to report that contractors are on-site and work is on-going at a very busy pace. I also commend the National Assembly for the speedy passage of the NDDC 2020 budget; I think that was a patriotic action taken in the interest of the good people of the Niger Delta region,” he said.

While commending the management team and staff of the ministry, the minister said, “the ministry was able to complete a lot of development projects in different states of the Niger Delta which includes the 50km road in Edo State, skill acquisition centres in Cross River, Ondo, Akwa-Ibom and others with provision for underwater welding.”

The former governor, who expressed displeasure over the recent fiasco caused by some youths from the Niger Delta region in the ministry, said he has also received calls from some youth groups apologizing for their behaviour, saying that they were misled to coming to the ministry to foment trouble.