The Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority, BORBDA, host communities in Edo State have protested against the appointment of Femi Adekanbi as the new Managing Director of the federal agency.

DAILY POST reports that protesters drawn from Obayantor II, Ekosa, Agbomwoba, and Awanoba communities barricaded the office gate, preventing workers and visitors from accessing the building.

The protesters, who demanded the appointment of a Benin person as the agency’s Managing Director, also called for the removal of Femi Adekanbi, the newly appointed Managing Director/Executive Director of the establishment.

The spokesperson for the protesters, Mr Nosa Aigbogho, alleged that the host communities had been marginalised for 42 years in appointments to the agency’s board and the promotion of indigenous people to senior managerial positions.

According to him, the peaceful protest was to press home their demands regarding appointments to the agency’s management, where no one from the host communities was considered, despite being eminently qualified.

“Our protest at the BORBDA headquarters was to demand that the Oba’s recommendations for the appointment of someone from the host communities be respected by the appointing authorities.

“The protest also became inevitable when we discovered that the overtures made to various appointing authorities of the Federal Government for the appointment of a host community member as Managing Director were not honoured,” he said.

The protesting communities also drew the Federal Government’s attention to what they described as the agency’s poor corporate social responsibility over its many years of operation. They noted that the host communities had little or nothing to show as benefits from and, therefore, called for a change of approach.

He appealed to President Bola Tinubu to put an end to what they described as many years of marginalisation of the host communities by appointing a qualified person of Benin extraction as Managing Director, in fulfilment of the Federal Character principles and in line with the recommendation of the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II.

He said the protesters had vowed to continue their demonstrations until the president acceded to their demands for the appointment of a Benin man as Managing Director.

DAILY POST recalls that in January 2025, the Federal Government constituted the boards of the twelve River Basin Authorities across the country, with the Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority having Mr Mike Ezomo as Chairman and Femi Adekanbi as Managing Director.