Stakeholders of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in what they described as an “unwarranted audit” of staff of the Commission by the newly appointed Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana.
The aggrieved workers, who stormed the commission’s premises on Monday, carrying placards with inscriptions including, “Umana/perm Sec leave NDDC staff alone,” “President Buhari sack Umana now”, among others, alleged the Minister’s deep involvement in the administrative affairs of the Commission which they claimed is contrary to his assigned role as a supervisory minister of the NDDC.
Victor Idaye Briggs, who spoke on behalf of the staff of NDDC, said that it was wrong for the Minister to call for the audit of staff of the Commission.
According to him, the audit was already carried out years ago before the commencement of the forensic audit in the commission.
Briggs said, “We have discovered that his actual intention is to recruit those he will use for the 2023 politics and we will never allow that to happen.
“We are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency stop the minister of the Niger Delta Affairs from destroying the Commission with the ulterior motive of sacking genuine staff of the Commission and replacing them with political cronies. They are our breadwinners. They pay our school fees. If they are sacked now, where do we go to?
“We will be here as long as possible until Mr. President responds to our request. This is very unfair and we don’t want a situation where the region is plunged into an avoidable crisis. You can see that we are all young people who are dependent on their parents or relations in this Commission”.
Meanwhile, the commission is yet to react to the development.
