Paul Osuyi, Asaba
The ISOKO Monitoring Group (IMG) based in Delta State has called on the Federal Government to extend the proposed forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) and Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
The group said the probe of the interventionist agencies was long overdue, insisting that various management of the government agencies have been short-changing the people of the Niger Delta region they were meant to empower and develop.
It, however, expressed worries that the planned probe of the NDDC may also go the way of others before it whereby the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led Federal Government paid lip service to the exercise.
The group, in a statement, therefore, tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to match words with action on the planned probe of NDDC, and by extension, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
Spokesperson of the group, Kingsley Oroh, who issued the statement, said: “All true sons and daughters of Niger Delta have been worried over the recklessness, misappropriation and mismanagement of the NDDC in fulfilling its core mandate of developing the Niger Delta area.”
He lamented the negative effects of crude oil exploration by multinationals operating in the Niger Delta as well as the deplorable situation of roads, electricity and other basic necessity in the region.