Rights Group Asks President Muhammadu Buhari To Directly Supervise NDDC

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against the appointment of another interim administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

It faulted the transfer of the supervisory purview of the NDDC illegally to the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, saying it directly violates the enabling Act that set up the commission.

HURUWA expressed dismay that the forensic audit report on NDDC and the white paper on that report are yet to be implemented just as it decried the disregard for the NDDC by the current administration.

“Why the delay in the implementation of the recommendations of the report? This whole negligence is as a result of the underhand suppression by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. This negligence and administrative bottlenecks must be dismantled,” national coordinator of the group, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, noted in a statement.

He said while the proposed appointment of another interim administrator was a nullity, there was need to arrest the illegality immediately.

HURIWA stated that all the actions relating to the NDDC made by the minister if Niger Delta Affairs were null and void.

According to the rights group, the law states clearly that the president is the direct supervisor of the Niger Delta Development Commission, hence all letters authored by the minister remain absolute and irredeemable illegality.

Stakeholders in the Niger Delta region had raised the alarm over alleged plot by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, to appoint another interim administrator to oversee the affairs of the NDDC.