Some women in the Niger Delta have called on the international community to pay attention to developmental issues in the region as they alleged that the Federal Government is setting up the region for degeneration.

The women stated that the future of the area was becoming unsure, regretting that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had kept silent over issues in the Niger Delta Development Commission.

The women, under the aegis of the Wailing Women of the Niger Delta, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, alleged that only a few people from the area, who were residing in Abuja, were sharing the resource of the NDDC with impunity.

The Coordinator, WWND, Odighonin Adienbo, bemoaned the continued silence of the President to calls by stakeholders on the illegalities going on in the NDDC.

Adienbo alleged that important allocations sent to the commission were been shared among a few individuals, questioning the President if the performance of the current NDDC was what he wanted for the people of the region.

She said, “The Wailing Women of the Niger Delta is worried about the continued dead silence of President Muhammadu Buhari over what we describe as the abduction of the Niger Delta Development Commission for years now under his watch.

“We allege that key positions and proceeds from allocations to the commission are been shared as largesse by known and highly placed government officials from the region and a certain Abuja cabal.

“We wish to ask Mr President if the current state of the NDDC, where it is questionably put at the behest and mercy of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the Attorney-General of the Federation both jointly and severally, is a reflection of the legacy he wants to leave for the Niger Delta people.”

She recalled that the President had about a year left to exit office, lamenting that the NDDC might have been designed as a special vehicle by a corrupt few to bankroll the 2023 elections for self-serving purposes, which could be why Buhari had remained silent.

Adienbo queried what the funds accruing to the NDDC under the current sole administrator were used for, noting that no project had been carried out by the administration.

Adienbo said, “The big question is, what have the funds coming to the NDDC been used for since the illegal appointment of a life sole administrator in sheer defiance to the NDDC Act and without a properly constituted board?

“More so, contractors are not being paid and no projects are embarked upon under the guise of a forensic audit report. The current situation in the region can only be likened to a crime against humanity and we will not accept it.”

She called on the people of the region to rise now to defend their rights, saying it was time for action.

Adienbo berated the international community for its conspiracy of silence against the region, adding that the Federal Government was working to underdevelop the oil-rich region.

“We call on the international community and development partners that there is a lethal conspiracy of silence, right from the Presidency to major APC/PDP chieftains from the region, because all our political representatives, including the Niger Delta governors, may have all sold out and neglected the region on this critical question.

“It does appear to us as women, being at the receiving end with our children as worse hit, that the Federal Government is setting up the Niger Delta for degeneration, a thing not applicable to the counterpart, North East Development Commission.

“Are our leaders not ashamed of themselves? What crime have our people committed to be subjected to fugitives in their land in the name of politics?” she queried.