Abuja — The Niger Delta Youth Mirror for Good Governance (NDYMGG) has threatened to stage a mass protest unless the members of the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Affairs apologise to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Ubong Ufot Ekaette over their recent "uncomplimentary" remark on him.

Executive Secretary NDYMGG, Arch. Isele Evah who stated this during an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja, insisted that Ekaette has performed remarkably as the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs since he assumed office.

The lawmakers had scored the minister low on his performance at the ministry in the last one year, saying that he was out to defraud the government and the people of the Niger Delta.

While accusing the legislators of harbouring ulterior motives, Evah alleged that the "non-performing verdict" passed on the minister and his ministry, was a deliberate attempt to cajole Ekaette into violating the guidelines of the Procurement Act.

He said: "These attacks and offensive launched at Ekaette when he honoured invitation by the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta are uncalled for and should be roundly condemned, and the people concerned should apologise. Failure to do this immediately will force us to organise a mass protest soonest.

"The fact that the minister honoured the invitation to brief the lawmakers on the performance of the 2009 budget distinguished him as one who was determined to achieve the objectives behind the setting up of the ministry".

The group, however, blamed the hitch that characterized the execution of some of the capital projects by the ministry on the activities of the committee members who erroneously inserted their constituency projects in the 2009 budget in place of priority projects outlined for execution by the stakeholders in the region.

This blunder it recalled, "was committed when, the House Committee drawn up the 2009 capital budget of N48 billion for the Niger Delta ministry at a time the permanent secretary and ministers were yet to be appointed for the ministry.

"From the authentic document at our disposal, a total of N28, 422,832,802 out of the N48 billion meant for capital projects in the year under review was allocated for the ongoing project, which include the four sections of dualisation of the East West road projects.

"This development made it possible for the lawmakers to conceive and perfect the outrageous insertion of remaining balance of N19.55 billion meant for new capital projects to cover their choice projects in the region".