Ex-agitators in Rivers State have called on the newly elected governing board of the Niger Delta Development Commission to probe the past administrations.
They demanded that the names of persons indicted by the forensic audit report of the commission be published.
The group made this demand after an emergency meeting of ex-agitators in Port Harcourt, Rivers State at the weekend, where the Chairman of Presidential Amnesty Programme Strategic Communication Committee, Nature Kieghe Dumale, explained that making identities of such persons public would act as a warning to others seeking to do business with the commission.
While Dumale commended the leadership style of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana, and congratulated the board, which has Dr. Sam Ogbuku as the Managing Director and Lauretta Onochie as the Chairperson, he also appealed to the new board to win the hearts of the people by naming politicians, contractors and firms, that were accused by the report of mismanaging their engagements with the commission.
Daily Post reported that Dumale appealed to the board to initiate an inquiry into how former Interim Administrators of the commission spent about N300bn that accrued to the NDDC within his tenure.
Dumale said, “As much as we are happy that after a long time we now have a credible board on ground to pilot the affairs of the NDDC, it is important to also say that we cannot waste money and time investigating the activities of the commission without publishing the result of such expensive exercise.
“People want to see the report. They want to see people punished for their negative role in under-developing the region by collecting money for contracts they never executed.
“The minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umanah Okon Umanah had alleged that N300billion was frittered away by the past leadership of the NDDC. This allegation and the sum involved are too weighty to be ignored.
“We call on the Lauretta Onochie-led board to set up a panel to look into what such money was used for. This is the only way this board can curry support from the people”.
