The Association of Coastal and Waterways Communities of Nigeria (ACWCN), led by Comrade Bawo Egbiluwah, has lent its weight behind the widespread call for the immediate inauguration of the Dr. Pius Odubu-led Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board already screened and approved by the Senate since November 5, 2019.
Urging President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the NDDC board after a meeting held in Warri, the association, in a statement jointly signed by its executive council members from Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo, and Akwa Ibom, noted that the board’s membership is based on merit devoid of tribal and ethnic sentiments.
The association also commended President Buhari for the choice of Chief Bernard Okumagba as the managing director, describing Okumagba as having “distinguished himself in his career as a Chartered Accountant par excellence, banker, businessman, an astute and erudite politician of repute.”
ACWCN notes that as an administrator, politician and technocrat, Okumagba had worked with the international financial services firm of Arthur Andersen & Co (now KPMG) and in several banks.
It also said the chairman-designate served as Delta State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget from August, 2007 to November, 2010, and was again appointed as Commissioner for Finance and served in that capacity from November, 2010 to May, 2011, then reappointed as Delta State Commissioner for Finance in July, 2011, a position he held till July, 2013.
The association, therefore, took a swipe at the antics of mischief makers, tribal and ethnic bigots who are spreading false information and warned them to “desist from their unwholesome propaganda which will only breed crisis and underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region.”
ACWCN also notes that one of the greatest challenges bedevilling NDDC in carrying out its mandate in the Niger Delta region is the issue of tribalism and ethnicity and therefore posits that for the interventionist agency to grow, merit should take precedence, hence “the inauguration of the new board with Chief Bernard Okumagba as its managing director is a step in the right direction.”
The association also wishes to put it on record that beyond merit, Okumagba is paternally from Warri South Local Government Area and maternally from Udu Local Government Area, both of which are oil producing areas of Delta State.
ACWCN, therefore, cautions that whoever is against the inauguration of the Senate screened Board of the NDDC is an enemy of the growth and development of the Niger Delta region.
Other executive council members of ACWCN, who signed the statement are National Secretary, Comrade Michael Eferebo Jones; National PRO, Comrade John Ugoro; National Organising Secretary, Comrade Bawo Edirin Otirikpe; Chairman, Comrade Jimi Aniedi (Akwa Ibom State Chapter); Chairman, Ondo State Chapter, Comrade Monday Adeyemi; Chairman, Bayelsa State Chapter, Comrade Odede Dinikpete Tina; Financial Secretary, Comrade Esinone Obatarhe Destiny; and Chairman, Rivers State Chapter, Comrade Darego Frank Amah-Tariah.
