The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide has commended the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmed Lawan and the entire Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for barring the illegal interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from defending the 2019/2020 budget of the Commission.In a press statement signed by Barrister Eric Omare, President, the IYC Worldwide said “the Senate has by this decision once again demonstrated its capacity to defend the rule of law and democracy in Nigeria.” Recalling that “when the NDDC Act was passed in the year 2000, the then President Obasanjo refused to assent to the bill as passed by the National Assemnly because of the funding provisions, Barrister Omare said, ” however, the National Assembly led by the charismatic Dr. Chuba Okadigbo as Senate President and Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abah as Speaker of the House of Representatives stood on the side of the people of the Niger Delta region and vetoed the presidential assent and passed the NDDC Act into law and established the NDDC. In effect the NDDC is a baby of the National Assembly and we are glad that the present National Assembly lived up to the expectation of the people of the Niger Delta region by coming out to defend the survival of the NDDC.”
The Ijaw Youth Congress President called on the House of Representatives to “follow the lead that has been provided by the Senate and also bar the illegal IMC from coming to defend the 2019/2020 NDDC budget.” The premier Ijaw youth organisation called on the National Assembly to “probe the expenditures of the illegal Interim Management Committee and sanction those culpable for spending money from the funds of federal government without parliamentary authorization.”
