Mr. Kpodo says the investigation should unravel the unexplained spending of the five percent fund remitted to the Nigerian Local Content and Development Board that is specifically earmarked for youth engagement and development in oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta. While speaking in Yenagoa, he said available information shows that the money has failed to yield the desired result over the years, with rising violent crimes and poor standards of living for indigenes of the region.
An All Progressives Congress (APC) leader in Bayelsa State, Richard Kpodo, has applauded President Muhammad Buhari over the ongoing restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and asked him to launch a new investigation into the five percent local content funds purportedly remitted by the NNPC.
Mr. Kpodo says the investigation should unravel the unexplained spending of the five percent fund remitted to the Nigerian Local Content and Development Board that is specifically earmarked for youth engagement and development in oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta. While speaking in Yenagoa, he said available information shows that the money has failed to yield the desired result over the years, with rising violent crimes and poor standards of living for indigenes of the region.
“The funds remitted have not been judiciously used,” Mr. Kpodo commented. “President Muhammud Buhari should take a look at the books of the Local Content Monitoring and Development Board and find out why the expected activities of improved youth engagement and empowerment and infrastructural development have failed.
"If the President wants to quickly resolve the issues of sea piracy and oil theft in the Niger Delta region, he should probe the activities of the Local Content Board and how the years of funding have been handled."
Mr. Kpodo commended the president’s recent appointment of Paul Boroh as the new head of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, calling it and the ongoing probe to determine genuine beneficiaries of the program as "a step in the right direction."