AJOKE PHILIP
Niger Delta ex-agitator and Peace Ambassador, Chief Kingsley Muturu, has called on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, and National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, to appoint qualified persons to head interventionist agencies in the Niger -Delta.
The interventionist agencies in the Niger -Delta are Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) and the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
According to him, the agencies were becoming seemingly impossible and performing below required expectations.
He said the persons to be appointed should deliver the needed infrastructure and human capital development in the region.
Muturu, who was candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2023 Delta State House of Assembly elections in Bomadi Local Government Area, yesterday, also called on Niger Delta frontline ex-agitators, such as High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, a.k.a, Tompolo, HRM Tom Ateke, Alhaji Asari Dokubo and others to rise against the deliberate negligence of duty exhibited by the agencies.
He said: “I want use this medium to call on the Pathfinders of the Niger Delta struggle, I’m calling on High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, HRM Tom Ateke, Alhaji Asari Dokubo and a host of others in the struggle to prevail against the sharp, deliberate negligence of duty exhibited by the NDDC and MNDA in the development of the region.
“It is a fact that these agencies, which includes the NDDC, MNDA and PAP came into being as a result of the Niger Delta struggle for fair share and treatment. But, now they seem to be redundant in the performance of their primary duty, which is to engender infrastructure and human capital development in the region.
“These agencies are performing below expectations as a result of incompetence or inactiveness of their managers, whose actions are not in tandem with the vision of pathfinders of the struggle. For instance, how can you appoint somebody who does not know his own local government area to head any of these agencies?
“I urge President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, to consult wisely and scrutinize those they wish to appoint to man these agencies for optimal performance in order to right the wrongs of the past and actualize their primary vision.
“The MNDA and NDDC have failed us almost in all sectors of their respective visions and mission statements. The MNDA had stop working effectively and efficiently and the region is no longer feeling the impacts of any of these agencies.
“It’s a well-known menace that our roads are in prolonged deplorable conditions, our skills acquisition centres abandoned, ex-agitators no longer mobilized to study or training, communities cannot access potable water/health facilities and erosion is taking its toll on our communities.
“Therefore, I’m appealing to Mr President to take issues of the Niger Delta very seriously, as well as initiate swift measures to arrest the uncontrolled erosion phenomenon, either through shore protection projects or dredging of the lower Niger or both”.