The Ijaw Publishers' Forum (IPF) has thrown its weight behind calls by stakeholders in the Niger Delta region for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack from office the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr Felix Omatsola Ogbe, over his alleged poor performance, abuse of power, incompetence and ethnic bias.

The IPF call followed those from the leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Western Zone as led by its chairman, Comrade Nicholas Igarama, on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately sack Ogbe over his "consistently displayed disregard for critical actors in the Niger Delta" and for also exhibiting "the highest level of gross inefficiency by not keeping up to the fundamental mandate upon which NCDMB was founded."

The IYC further accused the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB for avoiding critical youth engagement on several occasions, but "has continually had a sectional engagement with his fellow Itsekiri kits and kin, thereby shutting all other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta region out."

Backing the IYC call for sack of Ogbe, the IPF in a statement to President Tinubu on Friday (August 15), signed by its national president, Comrade Ozobo Austin; spokesman, Comrade Kagbala Ezekiel; and secretary, Comr Tare Magei, said the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB through his biased ethnic actions "has failed to promote the renewed agenda of President Bola Tinubu, but instead uses his office to advance an Itsekiri agenda."

The IPF further accused Ogbe for being "among people fueling the fresh crisis in Warri, turning his office to Olu of Warri private company where only the Itsekiris were being engaged and empowered" and has "demonstrated incompetence in his role, failing to effectively promote Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry" as well as "using his office to promote the interests of the Itsekiri people rather than working in the best interests of Nigeria and its people."

According to the IPF, the removal of Ogbe from office by President Tinubu "will help to restore confidence in the NCDMB and ensure that the organization is able to effectively promote Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry."

The group urged President Tinubu to also put in place a "system to monitor the Nigeria Content Development Board to ensure that public officials work in the best interests of the country and its people, rather than advancing personal or ethnic agendas."

The media chieftains reiterated that while the NCDMB was established to maximize the participation of Nigerians in oil and gas activities, integrating oil-producing communities into the value chain, fostering institutional collaboration, building local capacity, and linking the oil and gas sector to other sectors of the economy, it emphasised that "Ogbe has failed, refusing to engage and build capacity among Ijaw and Urhobo critical stakeholders of the oil producing communities."

The group stressed that Ogbe's activities of using "government funds to build ethnic militia groups against Ijaw and Urhobo people in Delta State" posed several threats to the peace in Niger Delta, stating that the NCDMB Executive Secretary "had abandoned his duty of monitoring and evaluating the performance of operators and service providers to ensure compliance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act."

The Ijaw media council threatened to stage a mother of all protests to shut down the local content head office in Bayelsa to force him out of office if the President Tinubu treats their call for the removal of Ogbe with levity.

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