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Clark to FG Niger Delta will resist attempt to appoint another interim administrator for NDDC
South South Leader and former federal commissioner for information, Chief Edwin Clark has warned that the people of the Niger Delta region would resist any attempt by President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint another interim administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as being speculated in some quarters. According to the Leader of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF, any move to do that would be an aberration as the people of the Niger Delta have been patient and understanding enough, adding that they will no longer accept a repeat of such an action. Clark has also called on President Buhari to as a matter of urgency, reconstitute the NDDC Board in line with the law establishing it, just as he lamented that contracts awards in the commission have been determined by notes from the Presidential Villa, Abuja and federal government agencies, noting that the law establishing the commission has been bastardized.
Speaking at his Asokoro Residence in Abuja he however urged the federal government to make the forensic audit report on the commission public in order to allow Nigerians to know those who are complicit in its mismanagement. Clark recalled that when President Muhammadu Buhari received the audit report in September 2021, he promised to set up a substantive board but almost a year after, nothing has been done. Clark who alleged that politicians have used the NNDC to enrich themselves, warning that enough is enough, said, “May I use this medium to kindly appeal to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, to please, as a matter of importance and urgency, constitute a substantive Board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in accordance with the Niger-Delta Development Commission (Establishment etc) Act, 2000, No. 6, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
“When the Forensic Audit Report was submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari on September 2nd, 2021, he promised to set up a substantive Board. About 10 (ten) months after, no Board is constituted. This is affecting the duties of the Commission, and the people of the Niger Delta region, because there is a limit to the things an Interim Administration can do. The yearning of the people of the Niger Delta region is for the Federal Government to constitute a substantive Board. Any other agitation, especially from some greedy and self-centred persons, for Mr. President to appoint another Interim Administrator will be resisted. Because there are rumours of some persons making moves for the appointment of another Interim Administrator for the NDDC. If this is true, it will mean that it will be the fourth time an Interim Administrator will be appointed, in total neglect of the Act setting up the Commission. This is an aberration. The people of the Niger Delta have been patient and understanding enough.
As Mr. President ends his tenure, we plead and wish that the cordial relationship which has been established out of very deliberate and concerted efforts, should not be truncated. We plead with him not to listen to the selfish demands of few individuals who want to continue to despoil and milk dry the Niger Delta region. “My simple message to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, is for him to constitute, without delay, a substantive Board for the NDDC, in line with the Act setting up the Commission. I also wish to add here that, now that the Forensic Audit is completed, and the White Paper out, the Report should be made public to enable Nigerians know those who are culpable. The people of the Niger Delta have benefited little or nothing from a body that is set up to develop the region, because of outside influence, whereby award of contracts and making of payments are directed by notes from the Villa and from federal government agencies. I speak here with authority because I was one of the few persons who assisted former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to produce the Bill, to set up the Commission. I still have a letter I wrote to the former President in 2002, when he failed to implement the Act passed by the National Assembly (NASS), when he refused to consent to it.
“The law setting up the Commission has today, been bastardised and thrown into the dust bin. Politicians have used the monies illegally collected from the NDDC, including the Chairmen of the NASS Committees on the Niger Delta, yet the same people have turned round to blame leaders of the Niger Delta for embezzling the resources of the Commission. We have taken a decision that unlike in the past when we stood aloof and allowed people from outside the Niger Delta to plunder the resources meant to develop the region, we will no longer allow such to happen, not even from people from the ‘Presidency’. I repeat, we will take our destiny into our hands because we will no longer allow politicians and their cohorts to squander the resources of the Niger Delta. Enough is enough!.” Earlier in his remarks, the National Leader of Delta Central APC Leaders of Thought, DECALT, Chief Ominimini Obiuwevbi, who noted that they were on the visit to receive the fatherly blessings of Chief, said that voting in Delta State in 2023 would be individual driven and credibility and not on the basis of party, adding that the group has keyed into what has been the position of SMBLF on Southern President come 2023 and to intimate the Elder statesman that that he has foot soldiers at the grassroots to drive home his position.
A new technology transfer agreement between the Nigeria–China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) is expected to open more job opportunities, improve local skills, and expand access to advanced technology for ordinary Nigerians.
In a press statement reaching Vanguard on Friday, the MoU aims to strengthen industrial development, support local content, and create clearer pathways for Nigerians to benefit from China’s growing investments in the country.
PICTT Chairman, Dr Dahiru Mohammed, said the partnership will immediately begin coordinated programmes that support local participation in infrastructure and industrial projects.
Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr John Uwajumogu, said the deal will help attract high value investments that can stimulate job creation and strengthen Nigeria’s economy.
NCSP Head of International Relations, Ms Judy Melifonwu, highlighted that Nigerians stand to gain from expanded STEM scholarships, technical training, access to modern technology, and collaboration across key sectors including steel, agriculture, automobile parks, and cultural industries.
The NCSP Director-General reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to measurable results, noting that the partnership with PICTT will prioritise initiatives that deliver direct national impact.
The MoU signals a new phase of Nigeria–China cooperation focused on practical delivery, local content, and opportunities that improve everyday livelihoods.
EU regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms on Thursday over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in its WhatsApp messenger that would block rivals, hardening Europe’s already tough stance on Big Tech. The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, is the latest action by European Union regulators against large technology firms such as Amazon and Alphabet’s Google as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.
Europe’s tough stance – a marked contrast to more lenient U.S. regulation – has sparked an industry pushback, particularly by U.S. tech titans, and led to criticism from the administration of U. S. President Donald Trump. The European Commission said that the investigation will look into Meta’s new policy that would limit other AI providers’ access to WhatsApp, a potential boost for its own Meta AI system integrated into the platform earlier this year.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the move was to prevent dominant firms from “abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors”. She added interim measures could be imposed to block Meta’s new WhatsApp AI policy rollout. “AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,” she said. This is why we are investigating if Meta’s new policy might be illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space.”
A WhatsApp spokesperson called the claims “baseless”, adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms had put a “strain on our systems that they were not designed to support”, a reference to AI systems from other providers. “Still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.” The EU was the first in the world to establish a comprehensive legal framework for AI, setting out guardrails for AI systems and rules for certain high-risk applications in the AI Act.
Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp’s interface across European markets since March. The Commission said a new policy fully applicable from January 15, 2026, may block competing AI providers from reaching customers via the platform. Ribera said the probe came on the back of complaints from small AI developers about the WhatsApp policy. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com, has taken its grievance to the EU competition enforcer. Spanish AI startup Luzia has also talked to the Commission, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, said if Meta was allowed to roll out its new policy, “millions of European consumers will be deprived of the possibility of enjoying new and innovative AI assistants”. Meta also risks a fine of as much as 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.
Italy’s antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp, expanding the probe in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform. The antitrust probe is a more traditional means of investigation than the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the bloc’s landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon’s and Microsoft’s cloud services for potential curbs. Reuters
The spouses and children of billionaires inherited more wealth in 2025 than in any previous year since reporting began in 2015, according to UBS’s Billionaire Ambitions Report published on Thursday. In the 12 months to April, 91 people became billionaires through inheritance, collectively receiving $298 billion, up more than a third from 2024, the Swiss bank said. “These heirs are proof of a multi-year wealth transfer that’s intensifying,” UBS executive Benjamin Cavalli said.
The report is based on a survey of some of UBS’s super-rich clients and a database that tracks the wealth of billionaires across 47 markets in all world regions. At least $5.9 trillion will be inherited by billionaire children over the next 15 years, the bank calculates.
Most of this inheritance growth is set to take place in the United States, with India, France, Germany and Switzerland next on the list, UBS estimated. However, billionaires are highly mobile, especially younger ones, which could change that picture, it added. The search for a better quality of life, geopolitical concerns and tax considerations are driving decisions to relocate, according to the report.
In Switzerland, where $206 billion will be inherited over the next 15 years according to the bank, voters on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected 50 per cent tax on inherited fortunes of $62 million or more, after critics said it could trigger an exodus of wealthy people.
Switzerland, the UAE, the U.S. and Singapore are among billionaires’ preferred destinations, UBS’s Cavalli said. “In Switzerland, Sunday’s vote may have helped to increase the country’s appeal again,” he said. Reuters
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