Agrrieved youths under the aegis Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM) have issued a five-day ultimatum to the managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku, and his management team to pay their backlog of allowances or risk open protest.
According to them, trainees in different vocations under the Niger Delta Youth Internship Programme (NDYIP) across the region, were owed five months’ stipends and demanded the payment of the arrears.
The ultimatum, which was contained in a communique issued by its coordinator, Capt. Ovie Owens, in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, said, “we are giving this notice as a warning by responsible and concerned Niger-Delta youths, to NDDC that on the expiration of our ultimatum, we shall be compelled to picket the state offices of the commission in the respective states.”
The group recalled that “the commission was established to intervene in areas of infrastructure, empowerment, and well-being of the people in the region, especially youths, to correct the imbalances in entrepreneurship, job creation, and employment without suffocating them or imposing additional hardship and lack, where the federal or state governments cannot swiftly respond immediately to the needs and yearnings of the people.”
According to the apprentices, “The first tranche of N50,000 was paid on February 10, 2025, lamenting that “since then, the Commission has turned a deaf ear to the cries of beneficiaries across the region for five months, without considering the devastating economic hardship on the people.”
The communique reads: “That, to avoid the anger of the youth, we again appeal to the commission in particular, and the National Assembly Committees on the Niger-Delta for swift intervention in this regard.
“We also called on the Distinguished Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to come to the aid of the beneficiaries by prompting the managing director of NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, and his management to act appropriately while we try to calm down members in the meantime.
“We declare our total support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his ongoing economic and political reforms in the country.
“While we declare our support for your re – election in 2027, the youth of the Niger Delta want the presidency and the National Assembly to monitor the performances of state governors, as well as the local government councils in the country how they apply funds to the development of their states and the council areas to stem rural – urban migration.”
