By Tina Amanda
The Niger Delta Region have called for the repositioning of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for accountability and effective service delivery through the arrest and prosecution of those found guilty in the forensic audit report.
The call was made during a Town Hall Meeting organised by the Social Development Integrated Center (Social Action) in Port Harcourt, with the theme: “Promoting Probity in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC To Rebuild Accountability Tenet and Public Trust.”
According to them, so much injustice has been done against Niger Delta communities suffering from the brunt of oil exploration without any adequate economic or developmental benefits in the region.
They stressed that money pumped into NDDC is for the generality of the people and for the development of the region through the provision of basic amenities, such as pipe-borne water, roads, electricity, good health care facilities, schools, amongst others, which is lacking in almost all the communities within the Niger Delta.
They further stated that those found wanting in the forensic audit report for the misappropriation and embezzlement of funds, including the region’s underdevelopment, should be investigated and prosecuted by the court of law.
The people expressed that NDDC has been mismanaged, noting the misuse of the commission by political elites, who use it for campaign purposes, rather than its service to the Niger Delta.
However, they suggested that the way forward in repositioning NDDC is to enthrone integrity, transparency, and accountability to improve inclusive service delivery to the people.
They maintained that in repositioning NDDC for better development, the people must be involved in the developmental processes and no longer business as usual, where names of their communities are used to collect invisible contracts.
They noted the need for leaders who will represent them and not imposters, who are just there for their selfish and political aims.
While demanding the immediate publication of the forensic audit report, the centre expressed eagerness to know those who have run down the NDDC in the last twenty (20) years.
On his part, the Programme Coordinator of the Centre, Botti Isaac, said NDDC could not be restructured or repositioned without a concrete look at the recommendation of the forensic audit report.
According to him, “Since its inception, the Niger Delta Development Commission has been enmeshed in high profile corruption cases with allegations ranging from contract frauds, to procurement law violations, audit violations, cronyism, non-budgetary and extra-budgetary spendings being the identity of the commission.
“Allegations of fiscal recklessness and extensive disregard to procedural rules were prominent among the numerous scandals in which the commission has enmeshed itself.
“The outcome of the forensic audit (even though not much details is out) revealed some disturbing facts such as the thirteen (13,000) thousand abandoned projects on which over three trillion was wasted. Prior to the release of the forensic audit report, the Senate Adhoc committee had in its April 2020 fingered the interim management committee of NDDC of massive corruption.
“Involving the management of some forty (40) trillion naira without recourse to establish processes of fund’s disbursement, the fraudulent award of one (1) trillion naira involving one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one (1,921) emergency contacts by the management of NDDC.
“This fiat corruption was further strengthened by the complacence of the National Assembly, who has made it an annual ritual of passing the NDDC budget three months to the end of the budget year.”
In his remarks, the Executive Director, Ken Henshaw, emphasised the Leadership failure of the NDDC.
According to him, “If NDDC was being run as recommended in the UNEP report the people of the host communities would have benefited; imagine a situation where NDDC projects were not created to work.
“Same people will approve a contract after the commissioning of such projects, the equipments or whatever was installed will be removed one after the other by same people, in the real sense those projects was never meant to work from the beginning.
“NDDC was meant to impact positively the people of Niger Delta, which it hasn’t. When the Leaders who manage NDDC are appointed from Abuja, it is no longer our commission but a political structure.
“There is massive disrespect for the Niger Delta people, they have not trusted the Niger Delta to develop itself, money has never been given to Niger Delta directly. They have never trusted Niger Deltan’s.”
Henshaw, however, called for the diversification of energy as most Oil Companies are already shifting to energy.
He noted that the Niger Delta Region would soon be left with serious ecological disasters, as the oil age is about to end.
