Niger Delta group asks Buhari to return East-West road to NDDC

A group known as the Niger Delta Change Ambassadors has passed a vote of confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari and Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta affairs.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the group called on the president to remove the East West Road Budget from sovereign Wealth fund and return it back to ministry of Niger Delta affairs to enable sections 1-4 of the road to be completed.

The statement was jointly signed by Goodlive Elee, national coordinator, and Derefaka Ajubo, national secretary.

They said transparency is returning to the ministry under Akapbio, adding that some of the cases of corruption pointed out by Akpabio were: payment of N300 million annually as rent for the past 23 years for the NDDC temporary headquarters in Port Harcourt.

The group also commended the minister for capturing youth empowerment and other jobs meant for the youth in the budget since 2019 when he was the senate minority leader.

“That Godswill Akpabio is the 1st Minister to visit NDDC Headquaters to address the staff to refrain from misconduct and fraud, he is the first Minister to carry out verification before payment and stop upfront payment on fictitious contract without verification where contracts are not inflated,” the statement read.

“Mr. President should applaud the Minister for revealing that certain power brokers in NDDC are contracting their cronies to display dead fishes along the shores of Niger Delta all to discredit the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“We applaud the MD for his co-operation with the Minister since the forensic Audit.”