Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Lokpobiri, accused of meddlesomeness at Local Content Board

A group, the Indigenous Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum, has said the ideas behind the establishment of the Nigerian Content Development Management Board, NCDMB, otherwise known as Local Content, may be defeated if needless meddlesomeness and interference in its activities by some politicians are not stopped.

The group, in a statement issued in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State by its Chairman, Comrade Emovon Kokori, expressed worry that the lofty ideas behind the establishment of the Board were being defeated because of the desperate subterranean interference in the daily running of the affairs of the agency by some politicians.

The group therefore called on President Bola Tinubu to call such people to order and also advised the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, to let the Board breathe.

The group wondered what the minister went to do at the Board’s headquarters in Yenagoa on the eve of the inauguration of a new management for the Board.

“We wonder what the Minister went to do at the Board’s headquarters just few hours before a new management would be put in place for the Board. Why wouldn’t he wait for the inauguration of the new board? Why would transfer notifications be sent to some staff members at about 00.40am? Why the hurry? The Executive Secretary was sworn in few days back and the board was yet to be inaugurated. So, on whose authority was the directive given?

“The movement/promotion of staff in such a situation can only be vetted by the Governing Council. And letters can only be signed by the ES for all promotions and transfers. We gathered that those illegally promoted and transferred received letters to such effect on a Sunday without the signature of the Executive Secretary or any other relevant approving authority.

“It is also ridiculous that some workers were removed and replaced by loyalists of some politicians and workers promoted without following due process.

“This is in clear breach of the extant provisions of the law establishing the agency as promotions and deployments are functions vested in the management as an institution established by an Act of the National Assembly,” the group added.

The group therefore called on Mr. President to probe the activities of the Minister, as some of his activities were not in tandem with the policy thrust of the administration.

They added that the minister’s behaviours were also counterproductive to the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President.

The group further alleged that the minister’s antics were not unconnected with his ambition to contest the governorship of the state in 2027.

Recall that President Tinubu approved the reconstitution of the management and Board of the Nigeria Content Development Management Board otherwise known as Local Content barely over two weeks ago, but the interference in its internal affairs has led to discontent and the killing of the morale of staff members.