WARRI— OIL-bearing communities in Delta State, complaining about the poor performance of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, have threatened to protest publicly and ask the Federal Government to discontinue further release of 13 per cent Derivation Fund to the state government until they tackle the irregularity.

The communities under the aegis of the Delta Oil Producing Communities Advocacy Group, DOPAG, in a statement, by the Interim Chairman, Aphensus Dibi, and two others, yesterday, also urged the state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, to reconstitute the board of DESOPADEC, saying the tenure of the present board has expired.

The statement read In part: “We will protest in the days and weeks to come, both in Asaba, the state capital, and in Abuja until they reconstitute the board of DESOPADEC.”

“We must never be silent in the face of yesterday’s poor men looting monies that belong to us all. DESOPADEC has lost its usefulness under the present Delta State Government. They have reduced a commission that should transform and develop host communities to a mere ministry for political compensation.

“We also call for the dissolution of DESOPADEC and arrangements put in place to pay the 13 percent Derivation Fund accruing to Delta directly to the oil communities.

“There is a law that made it mandatory for the state to remit 50 per cent of the 13 per cent Derivation Fund to the DESOPADEC board, which is the amount that the DESOPADEC board is pillaging and looting.

“Government is supposed to serve the people, but the reverse is now the case. If this continues without the reconstitution of the board, we will protest publicly and call on the Federal Government to stop further release of the 13 percent Derivation allocation until they transparently investigate the fraud associated with DESOPADEC.

“Delta state government should pity the oil-producing communities and reconstitute the board of DESOPADEC since the tenure of the current board has expired. Elongating the tenure of an underperforming board is a disservice to the hapless communities.

“Political patronage and interest groups are the reasons for the lack of accountability and transparency of the current board. No reasonable people and society can develop with unaccounted leadership.

“Today, all the Commission does is pay salaries and receive their emoluments. It has withheld what is because of the communities. This is a sad story. (Vanguard)