NDDC audit: Women back acting MD, ask her to accomplish presidential directive

A group of well-meaning Nigerian women, under the aegis of Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum (GNAF), has thrown its weight behind Joi Nunieh, acting managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

On resumption of office in October last year, President Muhammadu Buhari handed Nunieh the “mammoth task of flushing an utterly messy oil-drunk commission, sunk in corruption since creation two decades ago through a forensic audit”.

As expected, Nunieh’s quest has not been anywhere near hitch-free, with different levels of calumny campaigns targeted at her and the board.

At a press conference on Monday in Abuja, GNAF backed the interim acting MD to rid the commission of corruption no matter who is affected.

In a statement by Magdalene Ogwiji, its president, the group of women made bold of the statement “What a man can do, a woman can do and is doing better in NDDC.”, adding that a “ fearless woman is more dangerous than a 100 brave men”.

Ogwiji said the recent allegations Nunieh does not possess a valid National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate is “deliberate, wicked, distractive, manipulative, destructive and borne out of malicious intent”.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum believes the acting MD is being hunted not only for being upright and uncompromising, but because she’s not a man.

The group, however, urged Nunieh not to be deterred by the campaign against her and rather concentrate on accomplishing her mandate.

Read full statement below:

We welcome you all to this important press conference by the Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum (GNAF) given the prevailing circumstances that has occasioned the smearing of the personality and character of a strong woman that has dared to do what some men who have had the opportunity could not do either by omission or commission.

We wish to state in unequivocal terms that the recent allegations against the acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr. Joi Nunieh is a deliberate attempt by some paid mischief makers to distract her from the wonderful and patriotic job she has embarked upon at the NDDC since her appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari as the head of the Interim Management Committee.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum wishes to inform members of the general public that the hawks that had stripped the NDDC naked since the year 2000 when it was created are indeed those behind the spurious allegations against Dr. Joi Nunieh, not because she has erred in any way, but for the fact that has vowed to clean the Augean stable at the NDDC.

These same sets of people are also after Dr. Joy Nunieh because she is a woman. As such, it is considered an affront to their ego for her to head such a sensitive agency that has been their source of livelihood and with the realization that it would not be business as usual.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum views this campaign of calumny as also the handiwork of some staffers of the NDDC that have also benefited from the heist that has been perpetuated in the NDDC that has seen the misappropriation of trillions of Naira since the year 2000.

These insiders have been heavily compromised to the extent that they have vowed to do everything possible to make the governance of the NDDC difficult for the acting MD, all in a bid to frustrate her efforts at sanitizing the agency.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum wishes to inform members of the unsuspecting general public that the spurious allegations of Dr. Joi Nunieh not possessing a valid discharge certificate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is deliberate, wicked, distractive, manipulative, destructive and borne out of malicious intent.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum herby encourages Dr. Joy Nunieh not to be deterred by this campaign of calumny against her because it would not stand the test of time due to the emptiness of the allegations against her.

Dr. Joy Nunieh has dared to do what some men who have had the same opportunities in time past could not do out of fear and also for the fact that they were also beneficiaries of the infractions at the NDDC.

She is being haunted because she is a woman that has dared to be bold and courageous amid sharks with mouths wide open to devour whoever stands their way in the pilfering of the resources of the NDDC.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum consequently wishes to state that Nigerians and indeed Nigerian women must rise in defense of this indefatigable stallion that has been tireless in her efforts of ridding the NDDC of corrupt practices and the entrenchment of a new regime of transparency and accountability.

All Nigerian women will rise for her as a worthy ambassador and pride of the girl child in Nigeria. She has committed no offense, and no Jupiter should think he can rubbish her to take her position at the NDDC.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassadors Forum is using this medium to appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to give this woman of great character and substance all the support she needs in carrying out the daunting task of cleansing the NDDC of corruption.

We are also calling on Her Excellency, the First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari, to lend her support to this great woman of Nigeria who has indeed exhibited an enviable level of courage in service to our fatherland.

We are also soliciting that given her sterling performance, she is deserving of full confirmation as the substantive Managing Director of the Niger-Delta Development Commission in a bid to encourage her and to sustain the anti-corruption drive of the present administration.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum is also calling on the security agencies to tighten security around her as these agents of darkness will go as far as attempting to assassinate her person if the attempt on her character continues to fail.

The Greater Nigeria Ambassador Forum is indeed solidly behind Dr. Joy Nunieh in her efforts at sanitizing the operations of the Niger-Delta Development Commission. This campaign of calumny would not stand.