By Jerry Emmanson, Abuja
The Nigerians in Diaspora Monitoring Group has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Mrs Ibim Semenitari as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC noting that the agency has for the first time gotten the leadership that will make it deliver on its mandate.
In an electronic statement signed by Engr. David Onmeje on behalf of the group said Semenitari’s appointment is laudable because her capability and wealth of experience has demonstrated the President’s resolve to move the NDDC forward as an agency that can appropriately address the challenges facing the people of the region.
It said, “Mrs Semenitari knows the problems facing the Niger delta region and has since demonstrated capacity by her recent reshuffling of the place to add value. We expect that she will further take actions that will justify Mr President’s confidence in her.”
The statement urged President Buhari to ignore all those calling for her resignation since there is ample evidence to prove that such calls were borne out of the dynamics of local politics and have so far failed to justify such demands as being in tune with national interest.
According to the group, “Those behind the calls for Mrs Semenitari to resign have been repeatedly exposed as proxies and agents of the embattled Rivers State government. They do not mean well for the Niger Delta region and are only interested in clannish politics that have not helped the country in any sense.
“The cleanup of the rot at the NDDC requires an astute and fearless person like Semenitari, which has further raised suspicions that the series of allegations being leveled against her may be part of a grand plan to distract her from reforming the commission in line with the mandate handed to her by Mr President.
“The Rivers state government and its agents should rather begin to give serious thought to embracing global best practices in running the affairs of the state instead of wasting public funds on evidence shopping and propaganda aimed at derailing Mrs Semenitari’s work at the NDDC.
“Those behind this campaign of calumny should have realized by now that the contemporary world does not dwell on the kind of pettiness they are peddling but that a responsible government will busy itself with exploring ways of managing scarce resources for the benefit of the masses.” It advised.
The group also advised Mrs Semenitari to give the NDDC her best and also build systems in the place to ensure that no one would be able to use it as a conduit to siphon public funds in the future but as a vehicle of meeting the yearnings of the Niger Delta people.