Ijaw National Leader, and Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Chief EK Clark has urged the Minister òf Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Godswill Akpabio, to stop his recurrent interference with the running of the Niger Delta Commission.
Pa Clark said that the NDDC cannot fulfill its obligations as an interventionist developmental agency with the disturbing frequent interferences from the Minister òf Niger Delta Affairs.
The Elder Statesman spoke while playing the host to the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Mr Effiong Okon, at his Asokoro, Abuja, residence on Wednesday.
Pa Clark advised Akpabio to place the needed priority on the desired development of the Niger Delta rather than the pursuit of his self interest.
He further advised the minister to focus on the administration of the ministry and relate with the NDDC as Indepedent government agency with the mandate to bring development and stability to the region.
He said, “For sometime now, some of us have been advising the minister, (Chief Godswill Akpabio), ‘don’t abandon your ministry and concentrate on NDDC.’ It is not fair.
“The minister of transportation does not concentrate on NPA or NIMASA or Railways. The minister of state petroleum did not concentrate on NNPC. So the problem we have therefore, is the constant interference with the affairs of NNDC by the minister of Niger Delta.
“So, I do hope that in your performance of duties you should have a free hand.”
Pa Clark call on President Muhammadu Buhari to set aside a special fund to fast-track the completion of the East West Road which he described as a major commercial road in the country.
He urged the youths of the Niger Delta to be calm and avoid strife in order to ensure that efforts geared towards the development of the region are not truncated.