Niger Delta Youths operating under the aegis of ‘The South South Youth Initiative’ on Wednesday besieged the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja protesting against the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
The protester called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Akpabio as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, saying he has been manipulating the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by not allowing the management board to be constituted.
The youths who came out in their numbers were seen by our correspondent displaying ‘wooden made coffin’, saying death to Godswill Akpabio for shortchanging the people of Niger Delta region.
According to them,Akpabio has been deceiving President Buhari, while they also lamented that Mr. President has allowed himself to be deceived by the Minister for so long.
Speaking to CAPITAL POST at the venue of the protest, the National President of the group, Com. Imeabe Saviour Oscar, among other sins of Godswill Akpabio, accused him to always coming to office at nights for surreptitious reasons, a situation he would not make himself available to attend to people from the region.
He said: “My name is Comrade Imeabe Saviour Oscar, National President of The South South Youth Initiative and I want to believe that even you, you are not happy about what is happening in country.
“We are not happy about what is happening in the Niger Delta; we have a formation, we have a board which is Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The Commission was supposed to reduce youth restiveness on the streets. It was supposed to give back to the Niger Delta what they are giving to the Federal government. It was expected to rehabilitate the people of Niger Delta as an oil rich region.
“Unfortunately, what we are seeing is the the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio has decided to deceive President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr President has allowed himself to be deceived by some of his cabinet members including Senator Godswill Akpabio.
“The President, we believe; the President we trusted has decided to listen to people with selfish interest.
“We want Akpabio to be sacked; we want Akpabio to honourably resigned or get sacked because he has failed as a Minister of Niger Delta.
“As we speak, Akpabio is advising Mr President to merge NDDC with other agency. As we speak, other three States want to join NDDC meanwhile, they are not producing oil. As we speak, the Minister for Niger Delta does not come to work during day time, which Minister comes to work at night? Which Minister that’s responsible comes to work during midnight.
The group further accused the Minister of covering erring contractors as revealed by the forensic audit, insisting that those people should be exposed.
“It’s unfortunate that after the forensic has been concluded, those found culpable have not been exposes, but been shielded. We are expecting that those who defrauded the NDDC be exposed. Unfortunately, they have decided to cover them up, they have decided not to do anything.
“I must tell you that the entire forensic audit exercise was a waste of effort. The exercise was meant to delay and waste the people of Niger Delta by plunging them into abject poverty because the money used to carry out the exercise would have been injected into the economy of Niger Delta.
“The money that was used to audit NDDC was enough to take care of the people of Niger Delta, unfortunately, Godswill Akpabio would not allow the investigative report to fly.
“Contractors who collected NDDC funds, but failed to execute projects should be exposed. That’s the problem we are talking about. They should be exposed.
“The Minister should step aside for Mr President for the board and remove Mr Effiong Akwa because in the Act that established NDDC, there’s no provision for the Sole Administrator.
“As we speak, the Sole Administrator is against the Act that established NDDC. The Sole Administrator has been in office close to two years now illegally, but backed by Akpabio.
The youth accused Akpabio of employing over 1000 persons from Akwa Ibom, his home state without recourse to other States that made up the region and the Federal Character principle.
“We want NDDC to serve the purpose for which it was meant for and not to be used for political reasons or gains. We want NDDC to deliver dividends of democracy because we are suffering.
“We are youths and we don’t have jobs and there is a space there where we can work and the Minister has employed over 1000 persons from Akwa Ibom, while we have other States that make up the Niger Delta.”
