Youth unrest has intensified in Cross River State after accusations that empowerment items donated by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were diverted to favor the southern senatorial district.
The NDDC, in partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), distributed cash grants of N125 million, 200 tricycles and 150 mini‑buses to 500 beneficiaries at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar over the weekend. The programme, intended for young people across the state’s three senatorial districts, was announced as a joint effort to boost transport‑related enterprises and reduce unemployment.
While many recipients expressed gratitude, officials from the Nigerian Youth Council (NYC) in Cross River State alleged that the distribution was limited to youths from the southern district, where Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, chairman of the Senate Committee on NDDC, is from. In a letter to the media, NYC chairman Comrade Francis Finian Offionor accused Senator Ekpenyong of diverting the items to benefit his constituency and of ignoring the central and northern districts. Offionor attached an NDDC directive that purportedly instructed the distribution to cover all three districts and described the alleged diversion as “disappointing, disgusting and disheartening.”
The complaint also implicated Mr. Orok Duke, NDDC commissioner representing Cross River State, alleging similar neglect of the central and northern districts.
Responding at the distribution event, Senator Ekpenyong clarified that the initial phase of the empowerment exercise targeted youths in the southern district, adding that “other parts of the state will be reached soon.” He emphasized that the vehicles were intended to generate sustainable income and warned beneficiaries against selling them, likening such actions to “killing the goose that lays the golden egg.” The senator said the initiative complemented state‑government efforts on skills acquisition, business grants and capital provision for transport operators.
One southern‑district beneficiary, Ita Bassey, posted on social media that the tricycle would “salvage his family from the clutches of starvation and penury,” reflecting the programme’s immediate impact on individual households.
The controversy highlights longstanding concerns about equitable distribution of federal resources in the Niger Delta region. If the allegations are substantiated, they could prompt calls for greater oversight of empowerment schemes and for the federal agencies involved to ensure transparent, inclusive implementation across all districts.
