Members of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) locked the office of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Bayelsa state on Wednesday morning over the federal government’s failure to constitute the agency’s board.
The youths, who staged a protest in Yenagoa, the state capital, also blocked some roads leading to the office.
The IYC had issued a one month ultimatum to the federal government to constitute a governing board for the NDDC. The protest followed the expiration of the ultimatum yesterday.
The Ijaw youths accused the Buhari administration of undue interference in failing to constitute the board.
In January 2019, recall that President Buhari instructed a forensic audit of the operations of the NDDC from 2001 to 2019. He had noted that the resources available in Niger Delta does not account for the huge resources that have been made available to the commission.
Buhari appointed a temporary committee in October 2019 to supervise the affairs of the commission, awaiting the conclusion of the agency’s audit. He had also promised that the constitution of the board will assist the empowerment of the youths in the region, saying that the IYC will make sure the NDDC is not managed by politicians.