NDPDA, others seek Pondei’s confirmation as NDDC boss

By Shola O’Neil, Regional Editor, Port Harcourt

The Niger Delta Peace and Development Advocates (NDPDA), Frontliners for the Advocacy of Peace and Development in the Niger Delta Region, and other stakeholders in the region have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to confirm the Interim Management Committee chairman, Prof Pondeil Kemebradikumo as substantive Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The stakeholders, who made the call after a joint meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, also appealed to the President to intervene for approval of NDDC 2020 by the National Assembly.

NDPDA described Pondei, a Niger Delta University Professor of Medicine, as a man that “has come to stop the continued plundering of the Commission, deliver her from the grip of “die-hard looters” to enable the NDDC to deliver on its mandate.

The resolution of the meeting was signed by Comrade Kelvin Ebi Thomas (Convener) and Amb Jude Taunu (Secretary) as well as Hon Uzor Raymond Okafor, Hon Dappa Somina, and Mrs Revival Ogbuagha, of the Youth for Positive Change, NEPD-ND and Women for Positive Change in Niger Delta, among others.

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They lamented the commission has been bedevilled by a high level of corruption from the time of its inception, stating “it was orchestrated by fellow kinsmen opportuned to manage the affairs of NDDC. Rather than develop the region, they opted for massive looting to the detriment of the supposed beneficiaries of NDDC.”

“Today, Prof Pondei-led IMC, despite its short time has made a remarkable achievement, with payment of contractors that falls under the category of N1- 50 million. The IMC kicked off the distribution of medical supplies, relief materials, and public enlightenment campaign to contain the spread of COVID -19, across the Niger Delta Region and as well cushion the effects of the COVID -19 Pandemic.”

They noted the ability of the IMC to actualise relocation of NDDC from its rented headquarters to its ultra-modern headquarters in Port Harcourt as a testimony of the prudence and hard work of the IMC.

The groups fingered perceived beneficiaries of the old order in the NDDC for the campaign of calumny against the IMC, noting, “They have too much money to fight back and this is a typical example of “we are fighting corruption and corruption is fighting back.

“The desperation on the part of those alleged to have plundered the resources of NDDC has reached an unimaginable crescendo as they daily churn out spurious lies through various media channels.”

Consequently, the groups called on religious and traditional leaders, statesmen, political leaders, youths and women organisations and other stakeholders to rise up to defend the present IMC to save the commission from total collapse.