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Human and environmental rights activist, Ann-Kio Briggs, has called on
the Ijaw ethnic group to throw its weight behind the Interim
Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr.
Efiong Akwa.
The Niger Delta activist, who spoke to newsmen in Port Harcourt, urged
the Ijaws to shun detractors who manipulate the NDDC by throwing up
issues of ethnicity and parochial considerations.
She said: “I am from the Eastern zone of the Ijaw ethnic nationality of
which Eastern Obolo in Akwa Ibom belongs. There is no denying the fact
that Ijaw people have contributed to the struggle for the emancipating
the Niger Delta but at this particular time in our history, the Ijaw
people should not be seen to start laying claim to the leadership of the
NDDC.
“They should not be saying that an Isoko man, Ogoni man or Oron man
should not be there. Akwa is already there and unless he is doing what
is against the development of the Niger Delta, I will not oppose him.
Why should I oppose him?”
Ann-kio Briggs observed that some Ijaw people opposed former NDDC Chief
Executives, such as Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei and Prof. Nelson
Bambraifa, who were both Ijaws from Bayelsa State, stating: “So, it is
not just about Akwa, it is about what we are doing to ourselves.
“The Ijaw Youth Council is being split in the middle. One section is
writing for Akpabio, while another is writing against him. Do you see
the people of North-East Development Commission writing against
themselves? Why can we not learn?”
Briggs said that despite the fact that the Niger Delta region was the
first geopolitical zone to have development commissions, such as the
Willinks Commission, Niger Delta River Basin, Oil Minerals Petroleum
Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC, and now NDDC, the Ministry of
Niger Delta Affairs and Presidential Amnesty Programme, it had very
little to show for their existence.
She declared: “The fact is that we want what is right for the Niger
Delta region and that is where it begins and ends. The current NDDC
leadership is from the Niger Delta and we should look inwards and begin
to solve our problems by ourselves.
“We have our own people in the National Assembly sabotaging the NDDC. A
particular name has come up over and over again that collected so many
contracts? When something is wrong, it is wrong. Akwa has been appointed
for now and he has done nothing wrong. The moment I see something I do
not like, I will be the first to speak out. But for now, our attitude
towards the NDDC is wrong, we should change it and take the right
attitude.”
Briggs warned: “The evil attitude that is manipulating our people must
be stopped because it will not get us anywhere.”
Speaking on the on-going forensic audit of the NDDC, she stated that
Niger Delta stakeholders demanded the exercise and called for a
reputable audit firm, noting: “We do not want an audit that is done
behind closed doors because they would be doing the audit for the people
of the region, not for the National Assembly. The NDDC funding is coming
from the Niger Delta. So, if we have an audit, it is public information.
The people who have been awarded contracts, who are they? What are the
names of their companies? Which contracts were awarded to them, when did
they start and finish? Where? In which communities?”
Briggs said that politicians should not trade with the provisions of the
Act establishing the NDDC where a position for Bayelsa State should be
given to someone from Delta State or vice versa. “It should not be like
that, if it is meant for Bayelsa, it should be for Bayelsa, likewise
other states of the Niger Delta region,” she said.
On the supervision of the NDDC by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs,
she said that it should not be a problem if the objective was to ensure
sustainable development of the Niger Delta region.