Okowa blames failure of NDDC, other federal institutions on APC’s ineptitude

The Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ifeanyi Okowa has blamed the “failure” of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and other federal institutions in the country on the “ineptitude” of the ruling All Progressives Congress-led federal government.

NDDC was established in 2000 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo (then PDP member) with a mandate to fast-track the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, was the vice president to Mr Obasanjo.

Mr Okowa, governor of Delta State, one of the states within the Niger Delta region, while speaking at the PDP presidential campaign in Benin, Edo State, on Saturday, said the NDDC failed because the APC government was “ignorance” of its mandate.

“The NDDC was doing well but in the last seven years, we have not seen the hands of NDDC in our states because those who came in, the APC government don’t know the purpose for which the NDDC was established.”

He said: “A lot of institutions that were established before the APC government came on board have not been put into effective use because the APC-led federal government don’t know how the institutions came about.”

‘Only Atiku understands states issues’Mr Okowa told the party supporters that it was only the PDP presidential candidate that understands the challenges of the states – “that the states need money and more power.”

He urged the people of the region to cast their ballot for Mr Atiku because NDDC was established when the presidential candidate was the Nigerian vice president.

Mr Atiku would revive the economy and create jobs if voted into power in next year’s election, he said.

“The PDP government knows how to run the economy in such a manner that it will be good for all the youths and the women and all Nigerians.

“Unfortunately, in the last seven and half years, our economy has been marred by hunger; it has been poverty and poverty and our people are unhappy and dying.

“One other good thing is that Atiku is the only man that understands the issues of the states. He has promised us that he is going to devolve more power and more resources to every state government and to the local governments.

“This is what we need to develop our states. He is the only presidential candidate who is sincere to this and he has been talking about it,” Mr Okowa said.

He said as someone from the region who is on the ballot as Mr Atiku’s running mate, he would work together to deliver “a new Nigeria for our people”.