A civil society group in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the Social Action and Mac Arthur Foundation, has given the Federal Government 14 days to make public a forensic audit report of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), or face protest.

The group spoke on Monday in Port Harcourt at a media parley.

It gave the Federal Government till September ending to constitute members of the board of the commission or face legal action.

The group’s Programme Coordinator, Botti Isaac, urged the Federal Government to look out for development experts while making the appointment, instead of gathering party loyalists with a mandate to loot to sponsor 2023 presidential election.

He said: “Within the next two weeks, if the forensic audit report is not released to the public, if the NDDC budget that was passed in December 2020 is not made available, if the board is not established, then we are going to mobilise a massive protest to disrupt activities at the NDDC headquarters.

“Before the end of September, if the NDDC board has not been constituted, we will take up legal action against the government, particularly the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Presidency to ensure that the right things are done, because they are violating the act that established the commission.

“Development experts should be brought on board to manage the commission as development agencies are run elsewhere in the world. The NDDC is supposed to be a development agency and not an offshoot, an arm of any party in power, as it is currently.

“We are monitoring events and development in the commission, and I can assure you that from now till the next two weeks, if none of the issues mentioned is addressed, we will form alliance with other groups and stage a protest that will paralyse NDDC headquarters for weeks, to ensure that we drive home our points,” the group said.

(The Nation)

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