The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has paid a consultative visit to former President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja to discuss the current security situation of the country and South south matters particularly the need for a regional security arrangement for the South-South as being done by other zones in the country. The PANDEF delegation led by the National Chairman, Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, said they visited the former President because he was a key voice in the country, and the political leader of the Niger Delta Region, and that his vast knowledge and understanding of the complexities and intricacies of the country, and the region, would be of immense benefit to PANDEF, and other groups in the country in the efforts to resolving the challenges we are confronted with. The group in a s...
A coalition of Niger Delta agitators, weekend, called on governors of South South to work with Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to develop Niger Delta region and its people. The group meanwhile, called out governors of Niger Delta states, saying recent revelation by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, that they (governors) collected N100 million each as Covid-19 palliative has exposed their hypocrisy. Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Patrick Ayo Akinyelure, last week, told reporters in Abuja that NDDC officials told the committee that each of the nine governors of the Niger Delta states got N100 million as Covid-19 palliatives. Coordinator of the 21st Century Youths of Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience, 2...
Pool Photo The ripples over the appointment of a sole administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) reached a boiling point on Monday as hundreds of Ijaw youths blocked the popular East-West road, causing many travellers to be stranded. The youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) said the protest was for the immediate removal of the Sole Administrator, Mr Effiong Okon Awa, and the inauguration of the substantive board. The protest held travellers stranded for hours and attempts by some armed soldiers backed by an Armoured Personnel Carrier and led by a Major to persuade the protesters to leave the East-West road proved abortive. A plea by a former Secretary to Bayelsa State Government and ex-Nigerian Ambassador to the Scandinavian countries, Dr Godknows Iga...
The South-South Governors Forum on Thursday declared wholehearted support for a forensic audit of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari. It deplored, with great concern, the crisis rocking the commission and said that it was convinced and expecting that the audit would serve to put the NDDC on a sound corporate governance footing and reposition it to better deliver on its mandate. In a statement by Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Delta, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, the governors also gave full backing to the ongoing investigation of the commission by the Senate. According to it, we believe the Senate is operating within its oversight functions through the ad hoc committee set up for that purpose. “It behoves us to respect the Senate oversight ...