By Zik Gbemre

…NEED FOR OIL COMPANIES TO BE MADE TO ASK/DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY FROM THE NDDC LEADERS FOR THEIR 3% ANNUAL BUDGETS’ CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COMMISSION

While we had recently added voice to reiterate the urgent need for the new NDDC Board, which have been screened and confirmed by the Senate as required by the NDDC Act, to immediately takeover the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), while the forensic audit should still be ongoing by the side, however we are even more perturbed, disturbed and even frightened with the recent alleged discoveries of the evil being perpetuated through the NDDC by men and women who have obviously sold their conscience to the devil. How else can we explain the fact that the NDDC, which was set up with high hopes to address the developmental shortcomings of the Niger Delta region, is today indebted to the tune of N3trillion? How can some people be so cruel, wicked and heartless to have allowed their insatiable greed to carry out such mindless looting of funds meant for the upliftment of the living standard of all?

No matter how long, or how difficult, or even how threatening it might be, we urge that every single person that is found guilty to have misappropriated/misused/stolen funds meant for the NDDC to carry out what it was established to do, should be made to publicly face the full wrath of the law, regardless of who such persons are, or how highly placed they may be. This is to serve as deterrent to others, and also for the new NDDC Board to learn from it.

One of the biggest blunders, and a huge loophole for easy pilfering in the NDDC, which nobody talks about, is the contributions by the oil companies, which is 3% of their annual budgets. There are Two major sources which funds the NDDC: One is the contribution from the Federal Government – the equivalent of 15% of the total monthly statutory allocations due to member States of the Commission from the Federation Account; while the other is the said 3% of the total annual budgets of any oil producing company operating, on shore and off shore, in the Niger-Delta Area; including gas processing companies. While the Federal Government through its agencies can easily audit and monitor how the NDDC expends its contributions, the oil companies’ case is different. Just Imagine how much money oil companies like Shell (SPDC), Total, Agip, NLNG, Chevron, etc. are paying 3% each of their total annual Budgets to the NDDC?

According to a recent online publication, it was revealed that records from the Ministry of Finance, indicated that the Budgetary Allocation to NDDC between 2004 to 2019, amounted to N769bn. That of the period of 2000-2004, is yet to be found. Also recall that the former Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu, once revealed that over $40b was paid from 2006-2016 to the NDDC and States in the Niger Delta region for its 13% derivation. However, if you add the contributions from the Oil companies to the NDDC, you will have trillions of Naira. Yet, we have over 12,000 abandoned projects that require about 3 trillion Naira to complete without a peculiar signature project. Where did all that money go to?

It was revealed how, for instance, one consultant makes N1b monthly just to collect these monies from these Oil Companies. Meanwhile, NDDC has an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which these Companies can pay into directly. Another company is said to collect 3% of the total sum generated by the consultant before the money is paid to NDDC. Mind you, NDDC has been in existence for over 19 years, yet it still pays rent of over N200m every yearly as Rent with possibility of an increase next year 2020. The almighty NDDC is yet to complete its own office at Eastern Road by pass in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. In other words, our Big NDDC is still a Tenant. The Nigerian Senate is currently investigating How N2.5b was budgeted for a water hyacinth project and the commission ended up spending N65b. One Man is said to have over 50 of these projects to himself. In another instance, over 56 registered companies have been traced to one man with 313 contracts allocated and awarded to him, from which 120 have been fully paid for, and he has not mobilized to any of the sites till date.

Over the years, NDDC has proven that It is an ATM machine without pin, and those entrusted to run/manage the commission have been using this said ATM with reckless abandon and impunity. There are countless examples of how these evil men/women use NDDC contracts to enlarge their private pockets. Some of the examples revealed by the said online publication include the following: N3.39 billion was awarded to a company for Sandfilling and Shore protection of Ogu Town, but it ended up costing N8.133 billion, a whopping 230% increment; Construction of Isielu-Okaigbene Idungboko road awarded for N2.35 billion ended up at N3.73 billion, increased by 160%; Construction of (the same) Isielu-Okaigbene Idungboko road was to another company again for N585 million and ended up at N3.67 billion, an increase of 620%; Construction of Ikot Ukap Ndiya internal roads in Nsit Ubium LGA awarded for N1.2 billion, but ended up at N2.86 billion, an increase of 235%. These are just the few out of thousands. This is why we have many abandoned NDDC projects and owed contractors. The money that should execute projects were inflated into others.

We are aware that when the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was commissioned in year 2000 by former President Oluegun Obasanjo, the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan was initiated and developed by GTZ, and this provided a very comprehensive plan of how the region can be developed across various sectors. Little did we know that it will be uprooted and thrown away, and a looting spree will be initiated. But actually, it was Shell (SPDC) that championed the establishment of the NDDC, thinking that the commission will address the developmental challenges of the Niger-Delta. Hence, Mr. Godwin Omene, a Shell scholar and a graduate of the prestigious Imperial College as a mining Engineer and technocrat, was appointed the first Managing Director (MD) of the commission. But Nigerian politicians stage-managed him out of the commission, and they started running the commission with the sole purpose of thievery.

The big gap here is that the oil companies can fund/contribute to the NDDC purse, but they cannot demand for the accountability of their contributions from the commission. But it is expected that, in any organized corporate dealings, if one funds an organization to carry out projects, then one should be able to ask questions and demand to know how such constitutions are spent. The oil companies merely have non-Executive members in the NDDC board who does not have a portfolio or function in the commission. But we believe that the oil companies, as funding partners should be able to ask the commission of how they spend their money, and call for accountability. The oil companies 3% annual budgets are big monies when put together. The oil companies should be made to look into their finances and advise the commission where, and how to implement projects. The oil companies know their host communities better than the Government’s commission because they work in the communities. Since they are part of those who fund NDDC activities, they should be allowed to hold responsible Executive positions in the NDDC to direct their projects at the appropriate communities. The oil companies should be more involved in the running of the commission since they contribute meaningfully.

Godwin Omene was the first African to be appointed as the then Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of Shell (SPDC), and first African as Divisional Manager – Shell Western Division in Nigeria. He was first in all his Shell assignments as an African. But politicians felt he was blocking their way. So, he was set up by politicians and got sacked. Since then, the NDDC lost its focus and direction. In early 2000, I was in Shell’s Freeman House, and the following: the then Directors of Shell, Ron van den Berg, Managing Director (MD)/Country Chair of Shell, Mr. Egbert Imomoh, Deputy Managing Director (DMD), Basil Omiyi, External Relations Director, and Joshus Udofia as Production Director, were all filled with happiness that very soon a Board of NDDC will soon be established by the then Federal Government of Nigeria. Their happiness was hinged on the fact that the establishment of the NDCC will end the crises in the Niger-Delta region. And that oil and gas operations will go on smoothly without work stoppage/disruptions due to host communities’ agitations, especially since oil companies cannot take the roles of the Government at all levels. This is so because the host communities’ locals do not have direct/easy access to the Politicians in power at all levels, so the oil companies have become their easy targets in pouring out their frustrations as regards underdevelopment. This was the gap the oil companies were hoping then that the NDDC would fill.

Sadly, that dream was killed immediately NDDC was taken over by the hawks in Government. If the NDDC had worked as expected, it would have greatly ameliorated the evident crises and agitations in the Niger Delta. The blunder then was that as co-founders of the NDDC, the oil companies can’t call to order the NDDC Board, especially if they miss the tracks. The Representative of the oil companies in the Board have no Executive portfolio, as such, they have no say in the NDDC management and implementation of projects. There is also need to Second oil companies’ Sustainable Development Experts/Personnel as Heads of Department in the NDDC to manage/support NDDC for effective functionality.

Shell (SPDC) and all the oil companies had wanted NDDC to work, but Nigerian politicians had their own selfish plans. But whatever the case may be, we cannot continue to feed a few and starve the many. A visit to the Niger Delta Creeks and the land communities where the Oil and gas are situated, will make you weep and your heart ache. So, let the ongoing deep forensic audit be sustained alongside the new Board. And let those found wanting be brought to book. This madness has to stop!

Zik Gbemre.

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