The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has faulted the position of the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Stakeholders Forum on the appointment of the next Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The forum had through its National Coordinator, Prince Maikpobi Okareme, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint the next MD of the commission from Delta State “in line with the subsisting rotational principle among the four core Niger Delta states.”
However, the NYCN admonished the forum to refer back to the Constitution and to previous appointments and not mislead the Federal Government.
A statement issued on Thursday by NYCN General Secretary,Blessing Akinlosotu, said that the position of the forum was wrong, stressing that it was the place of Ondo State to make the list of next MD of NDDC.
The youth council noted that the position had already previously been occupied by persons from Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa and as such it could not go back to Delta without first going to other state on the rotational list.
The NYCN scribe noted that Ondo State was the fifth largest producer of oil in the country and deserve the position based on the establishment Act of the NDDC.
“Section 12(1) of the NDDC Act states that “there shall be for the Commission, a Managing Director and two Executive Directors who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas starting with the member-state with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate amongst member-states in order of production.”
“This clear and unambiguous provision of the NDDC Act means that every member-state shall produce the MD of the commission in a rotational manner, following a sequential order that uses the quantum of oil production starting with the state with the highest production.
“The next MD must, therefore, be an indigene of the state with the fifth highest oil and gas production quantum in conformity with the NNDC Act (as amended), and that is Ondo State.
“We use this opportunity to passionately appeal to Mr President to help us correct the anomalies of the past by appointing an indigene of Ondo State as the Managing Director of NDDC in this ‘Next Level’ government,” the statement read.
