FROM: Joe Effiong, Uyo
Niger Delta Conscience Coalition (NDCC), a press group in the Niger Delta zone, has expressed shock at avalanche o criticisms trailing the July 2021 terminal date for the completion of the ongoing Forensic Audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The group which alleged in their press release at Daily Sun disposal von Wednesday in Uyo that some naysayers and political jobbers from both within and outside the Niger Delta Region had speculatively planned to use the exercise for an unending witchhunt with no terminal date, averred that those who had resorted to blackmail against the terminal date were in a sense, standing against the progress of the region.
The release signed by President of the group, Mr Aniefiok Obot and Secretary, John Adangu Jumbo said in part: “In turning a blind eye to the promises that this programme holds for the economic and social emancipation of this region, all the critics and vested interest stultifying the growth of the region have failed to acknowledge the gains it has thrown up since inception by the Federal Government through the Honourable Minister.
“By resorting to spurious blackmail of its duration, this circle of beneficiaries elites that have abandoned various contracts amounting to trillions of naira for years on end have stood the ordinary people of the region on their heads, even by contrasting sharply with facts on ground during the visible lifetime of the exercise to which all are testifiers..
“What do you make of a scheme whose performance index in terms of return to site deliveries almost halves the statutory allocation to her supervising MDA within this period of its placement”.
The group declared the sustained opposition to the forensic audit a prove that Nigerians and indeed the Niger Deltans were the greatest enemies of their development and new birth. “But we cannot continue down this horrible slope for much longer”. it added
While applauding the “courageous level headedness and tenacious sagacity of the Niger Delta Minister, Sen. Godswill Akpabio” in determining to see the exercise to a logical conclusion, the coalition urges stakeholders, interest groups, blocs and those having varied aspirations to lie low to enable the forensic exercise be concluded.
“It is in the interest of all for an acceptable document to be assembled and for a wholistic picture to appear so that the nation and especially the Niger Delta people can arrive at a position which can then be used to drive her development centrally.
“There is an irreducible minumum expected out of the exercise whether to the people of whose interest it seeks to guarantee or the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) who initiated the exercise”. The group said.
