The call to scrap the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) for alleged poor performance has been condemned.
Mr Okezi Odugala, the Executive Director of a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Eziodu Initiative for Sustainable Environmental Development, condemned the call on Friday while addressing newsmen in Asaba.
He was reacting to a call made by Mr Kehinde Taiga, President of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, to scrap the commission for allegedly performing below expectation.
Odugala described the commission as an interventionist agency that was established through the tireless efforts of many.
He wondered why anybody could contemplate dismantling an agency that had delivered numerous infrastructural projects across the oil-bearing communities in the state.
He, however, asked if the person representing Taiga’s ethnic group in the commission had not contributed to projects in the area.
Odugala said that constructive criticism was better than casting aspersions on the commission and its officials.
He advised critics to refrain from distracting the management team of the commission from the focus on delivering the ‘M.O.R.E. Agenda’ of the Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori-led administration to residents of Delta.
He described the appointees on the board of DESOPADEC as highly cerebral persons with professional and positive communal track records.
“They have achieved success stories in their public and private careers,” he said.
Odugala lauded Chief John Nani, the commission’s chairman, as a humane servant leader and philanthropist with a credible pedigree, adding that his legacies should not be rubbished by “a neophyte”.
He advised detractors to wait for their turn and not attempt to tarnish the reputation of esteemed leaders who had remained their compass.
Odugala said people should be credible and constructive in their criticism.
“CSOs should operate within the confines of the law, partnering for the sustainable development of the state,” he said.
He also said that critics should suggest better ways and join hands with the management of the commission and other stakeholders to build a better future for the people of the state.
”I am calling on Comrade Kehinde Taiga to contribute his quota positively for the sustainable development of Delta State and not to cast aspersions nor carry out unfounded negative media trials of DESOPADEC and her management team.
”We need everyone onboard to passionately contribute to the peace, unity and prosperity of Delta.
“The commission, as much as I know, is on the positive path of realising her mandate of intervening in the oil-bearing communities and needs our support always,” Odugala said.
Taiga had recently alleged that all the projects showcased by DESOPADEC were shadow projects that did not add value to the lives of people in the communities they were meant to serve.
He noted that there was no tangible project executed by the commission in most of the communities it was established to serve.
He listed some recognised oil-producing areas that had no presence of DESOPADEC projects in them.
Taiga expressed disappointment over the poor performance of the commission despite the billions of naira it received from the state government.
He said the commission was not designed to run poor skills acquisition programmes but to build, develop and transform host communities across the state.
“So, if the state government cannot scrap DESOPADEC in order to see effectiveness in the agency, it should be restructured.
“All communities that are captured in the agency’s catchment areas should be grouped into clusters,” Taiga said.