The apex Ijaw media council in Nigeria, the Ijaw Publishers' Forum, IPF, has said that the 10,000 selected beneficiaries for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC’s, youth internship scheme tagged Project HOPE with a monthly stipend of N50,000k have remained a ghost, while alleging mismanagement of the Commission's funds.

The Forum's statement, signed by its spokesman, Comrade Ezekiel Kagbala, was made available to journalists in Abuja on Monday, July 28, 2025.

The IPF also claimed that Ogbuku's programmes had no direct impact on the core oil-bearing rural and riverine communities in the Niger Delta region, whose residents had no access to Internet or smartphones to register for the NDDC's online programmes, while it challenged the Commission to publish the names of beneficiaries.

"There are claims that 10,000 selected beneficiaries of the NDDC’s Youth Internship scheme have been receiving a monthly stipends of N50,000. However, such projects or programmes were scams with ghost identities being deliberately orchestrated to misappropriate the public fund's," the IPF stated.

"Ogbuku should publish the beneficiaries and their account numbers, including figures allocated to each state in the nine Niger Delta States and criteria for the selection. The people of Niger Delta are eager to know how their money is spent," the IPF queried.

The IPF called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, for the mismanagement of funds in disguise of the Project HOPE that promises N50,000 monthly stipends to beneficiaries of the Scheme that are no where to be found.

"The youth of the Niger Delta deserves better. We cannot allow the funds meant for their development to be mismanaged or siphoned off. We urge the EFCC to act swiftly and investigate funds allocated to Projects 'HOPE' and other unrealistic projects of the commission under Dr. Ogbuku to restore public confidence in the NDDC," the statement reads.

The IPF also vowed to continue monitoring NDDC and to advocate for accountability and stewardship while encouraging the public to report fraudulent and abandoned projects, as well as programmes for public scrutiny.

"The Project HOPE was just a mere paper work created to divert funds meant to develop the Niger Delta region, and that it is unparalleled absurdity, broad daylight robbery and gross corruption of Ogbuku-led NDDC for replacing and shortchanged over 10,000 Niger Delta youths with non-existent entities.

"Ogbuku's management of NDDC is terrible, opaque and lacks accountability. Niger Delta people have the rights of benefit from an interventionist agency created to transform their lives and as such it is a grave injustice and an affront on the Niger Delta people who have been replaced with ghost entities," they added.

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