Adewale Sanyaolu
Royal fathers under the aegis of Traditional Rulers of Oil Producing Communities in Nigeria (TROMPCON) have called on oil companies operating in the region to remit their three percent contributions to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) or exit the communities with immediate effect.
TROMPCON scribe and the Odoka of Ogbaro kingdom, Oba Dr. Obafemi Ogbaro, handed down the warning in a statement made available to Daily Sun in Lagos on Sunday. The Group called on the National Assembly to bear its full might of powers on oil companies that consistently flout the law by failing to remit their contributions to the NDCC, thus denying it the much needed fund to execute its mandate. They equally called on NASS to partner with the Commission to expedite its budget process and prompt release of funds to it.
“We are ready to cooperate with the NDDC, NASS and the ministry to sue those companies and to stop their operations in the region, if they fail to comply.”
Ogbaro said the people of the Niger Delta region need to cooperate with the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the newly inaugurated Interim Management Committee(IMC) headed by the acting Managing Director, Prof. Kemebradikumo Daniel Pondei, in delivering the mandate of the Commission to the people of the region.
He urged the Commission’s directors to cooperate and work with the IMC committee to deliver on its mandate, stressing that the cooperation was necessary beyond political, religious, ethnic and social affiliations.
“We are not unaware of the activities of many of the redeployed directors of the Commission and others inciting their allies to publish falsehoods about the minister and the new IMC. We are particularly miffed about the sponsored spate of blackmail, backbiting and persistent bad press and attacks on the personality of the Minister and by extension the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is not only counterproductive, it also portends an ill omen as it imposes on our people the proverbial grass that always suffer where two elephants clash,” Ogbaro said. He urged all parties to sheathe their swords of accusations and counter accusations of fraud, pending the outcome of the audit report ordered by President Buhari, to determine among others the past financial details of the Commission and to investigate fraud and other sharp practices.
