Allow Us A Space In NDDC House Committee....Ukwa Leaders Beg Kalu

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu (m) with members of Ukwa People's Consultative Council, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office at the National Assembly, Wednesday, September 20, 2023.

By Benard Akoma

"We are here in solidarity with you. Permit us Your Excellency to inform you that the member representing Ukwa East and West, Hon. Chris Nkwonta whom we are well pleased enjoys our collective confidence, we are very sure he will be of usefulness as a member of the House Committee on NDDC, in fairness and justice." " The oil and gas that accord Abia state the unique status of an oil-producing state are in Ukwa federal constituency."

This was the position of a delegation of the Ukwa People's Consultative Council (UPCC) led by its Leader, Sir Don Ubani when it paid Deputy Speaker, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, a courtesy visit on Wednesday, September, 20, 2023 in Abuja.Ubani said that were it not for the interventions of the leadership, the youths would have resorted to restiveness.

The delegation in their presentation had decried infrastructural decay and environmental degradation as a result of oil exploration in the area, adding that NDDC had not met the expectations of the people.

"Today, farmers in Ukwa federal constituency cannot farm effectively again because the fertility of the soil has been diminished because of many years of oil exploration and exploitation.” "Many of our people are fishermen because we are very close to Rivers State, our people are fishermen. They can’t fish today because oil exploitation has almost destroyed aquatic life.”

"But interestingly the youths of the area have maintained a peaceful disposition. Those of us who are their elders have continued to tell them that two wrongs don’t make a right. Since the federal government has thought it wise to establish the Niger Delta Development Commission, yet most of the projects earmarked for the area have been abandoned,” the delegation complained.

"We are here to plead with you and all those who believe in fairness and justice to come to the rescue of Ukwa people." "There’s a lot of infrastructural decadence in that area," the delegation narrated. "We need to avoid the situation that will create youth restiveness and the best way to do it is to make sure that there’s development."

In a release by Levinus Nwabughiogu, Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Speaker, Kalu agrees with the position of the delegates decrying poor developmental interventions in Abia as oil oil-producing state under NDDC.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu (m) with President General, Ukwa People's Consultative Council, Sir Don Ubani (r) and Hon. Chris Nkwonta (l) during a courtesy visit to his office at the National Assembly, Wednesday, September 20, 2023.

The Deputy Speaker in his remarks commended the people for taking a peaceful approach. He said: "I totally agree with you that, what we have in Abia, as an oil-producing state and as a member of NDDC, comparatively speaking, is below average, in terms of developmental interventions."

A call from the stakeholders that an improvement should take place, is definitely not a wrong call, Kalu stated. "This kind of engagement is actually commended by the Leadership of the House. It is better to jaw-jaw, than to war-war."

It is less expensive for us to engage like this and proffer solutions. This is an easier, cost-effective, and peaceful approach to conflict resolution. So, I commend the leadership of Ukwa community, the oil-producing community, for holding their youth and despite the fact that the development interventions have been below average, they have kept their heads peaceful and allowed all the IOCs to handle their operations peacefully in those communities.

"I encourage you to continue maintaining peace in Abia State, in Ukwa, and in the Niger Delta. It is in peace that we will progress. It is in peace that out unity will be enhanced. It is a step in the right direction that you came and I want to assure you that, what your request has done, is to once again, beam the torchlight on the oversight functions of the NDDC Committee on the NDDC operations in the nine states, and especially now, in Abia State.

"They would now be able to look into their report. What is it that they did not do well previously? Especially in auditing the spread of projects equitably around the nine states of operations."

"I am from Abia and I am here as the Deputy Speaker, I promise you, that as the Chairman of the House Committee of the Whole, which considers reports of various Committees of the House, my special interest would be on this issue you have raised, going forward. In year one, year two, year three, and year four of my tenure as deputy Speaker, I assure you, I would always ask questions, about how equitably, they balance their interventions