The Association of Coastal and Waterways Communities of Nigeria (ACWCN), led by Comrade Bawo Egbiluwah, has lent its weight behind the widespread call for the immediate inauguration of the Odubu-led Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board already screened and approved by the Senate since November 5, 2019.
Urging President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the NDDC board after a meeting held in Warri, the association, in a statement jointly signed by its executive council members from Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo, and Akwa-Ibom, noted that the board’s membership is based on merit devoid of tribal and ethnic sentiments.
The association also commended President Buhari for the choice of Chief Bernard Okumagba as the Managing Director, describing Okumagba as having “distinguished himself in his career as a Chartered Accountant par excellence, banker, businessman, an astute and erudite politician of repute.”
ACWCN notes that as an administrator, politician and technocrat, Chief Okumagba had worked with the international financial services firm of Arthur Andersen & Co (now KPMG) and in several banks.
It also said the chaieman-designate served as Delta State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget from August 2007 to November 2010, and was again appointed as Commissioner for Finance and served in that capacity from November 2010 to May 2011, then reappointed as Delta State Commissioner for Finance in July 2011, a position he held till July 2013.
The Association therefore took a swipe at the antics of mischief makers, tribal and ethnic bigots who are spreading false information and warned them to “desist from their unwholesome propaganda which will only breed crisis and underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region.”
ACWCN also notes that one of the greatest challenges bedevilling NDDC in carrying out its mandate in the Niger Delta region is the issue of tribalism and ethnicity and therefore posits that for the interventionist agency to grow, merit should take precedence, hence “the inauguration of the new board with Chief Bernard Okumagba as its Managing Director is a step in the right direction.”
The association also wishes to put it on record that beyond merit, Okumagba is paternally from Warri South Local Government Area and maternally from Udu Local Government Area, both of which are oil producing areas of Delta state.
ACWCN therefore cautions that whoever is against the inauguration of the Senate screened Board of the NDDC is an enemy of the growth and development of the Niger Delta region.
Other executive council members of ACWCN who signed the statement are Comrade Michael Eferebo Jones, National Secretary, Comrade John Ugoro, National PRO, Comrade Bawo Edirin Otirikpe, National Organising Secretary, Comrade Jimi Aniedi, Chairman, Akwa Ibom State Chapter, Comrade Monday Adeyemi, Chairman, Ondo State Chapter, Comrade Odede Dinikpete Tina, Chairman, Bayelsa State Chapter, Comrade Esinone Obatarhe Destiny, Financial Secretary, and Comrade Darego Frank Amah-Tariah, Chairman, Rivers State Chapter