A former Commissioner for Information in Rivers State, Dr. Austin Tam-George, on Monday said he is hopeful that the new board of the Niger Delta Devel­opment Commission (NDDC) would fulfill the original man­date for which the Commission was created, that is the develop­ment of Niger Delta region.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu last week announced an experienced technocrat, Chie­du Ebie, as the chairman of the NDDC board.

Speaking on Channels Tele­vision programme ‘Sunrise Daily’, Tam-George bemoaned developments in the NDDC un­der the eight years of former president, Muhammadu Buhari, where people with no technical expertise were put in charge of the board.

He said: “I think the structure of accountability in this country is simply weak. That’s just the fact. Concerning the NDDC col­laborating with states, there is really nothing wrong with that.

“As you probably know, the NDDC itself has been over-politi­cised to the point where you would have expected those who have technical competence to set the developmental agenda for the region and drive the pro­cess because it is an intervention agency.

“But what we have seen espe­cially in the past eight years has been a situation where people are randomly selected and put on the board. Also, those who are appointed tend to be of different political tendencies to the gover­nors who administer the state.

“My hope frankly is that this is going to change in this new administration. A board has just been set up. There should be no difficulty if development is the single agenda of these agencies and the state government. There should be no difficulty at all in these parties collaborating to drive development to the door of the people.”