Chief Bibopere Ajube, a prominent Niger Delta figure, has expressed his displeasure over what he called the murky treatment the riverine areas in Ondo State had received from the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
Ajube specifically fumed that the leadership of the NDDC and Hon. Bunmi Tunji Ojo, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the NDDC, had diverted amenities intended for the Ondo state mandate areas to other areas that had no connection to the Niger Delta.
He called as unsettling the fact that benefits that ought to go to residents of Ilaje and Ese-Odo local government areas are instead enjoyed by those in the northern senatorial district of the state in a statement issued on Monday in Akure, the capital of Ondo State.
Ajube, who served as the Movement for the Emacipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Western Fringe Commander, emphasized the importance of collaboration among all stakeholders in order to call Hon. Ojo and the NDDC management to order.
Ajube raised the alarm 24 hours after Hon. Ojo had given N50 million in scholarships to 1,000 Akoko students, even as the NDDC announced that it had approved the restart of bursary payments to students in the oil-rich region.
“The most recent ugly development is the noise about the scholarship reportedly approved by Hon. Ojo to Akoko students.
“There is more to this because as the report came without any of our students from Ilaje and Ese-Odo, the NDDC came out to announce that it had approved the resumption of bursary payment. So who is fooling who, we ask?”
In an effort to reduce poverty in the Niger Delta region, the NDDC had announced on Friday that it had restarted the scholarship programme that had been put on hold.
The announcement of the development was made by Mr. Udengs Eradiri, Special Adviser on Youths to NDDC Interim Administrator Dr. Effiong Akwa.
He explained that it was a part of NDDC’s celebration of the International Youth Day.
