By Zik Gbemre

With recent reports that the Federal Government is set to conduct a forensic audit of the funds received and spent by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) since 2000, which was revealed by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who disclosed this following discovery of the huge indebtedness of the Commission to the tune of over ₦2 trillion to some real and fraudulent contracts, we strongly urge that a thorough probe/investigation should be extended to expose those behind this robbery of our national collective wealth, and have them to face full weight of the law. So that the new appointees in the NDDC will learn from it.

Akpabio who decried the huge indebtedness of the agency, said point blank that NDDC has not performed well since it was established. The Minister who spoke while meeting with the Management team of the NDDC recently, said “The impact of NDDC on the entire Niger Delta region would have been more if not for those things militating against development – personal interests, political interests, interferences here and there”.

Though, this statement came from Akpabio, we all know that the same Akpabio is one of the causes of the underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region. Akpabio, having ruled his state, Akwa Ibom for eight years, is said to have abused and misused his state’s public funds meant for development. Akwa Ibom ought to be one of the developed states of the region. So with Akpabio’s disclosure about the Niger Delta region, he is also indicting himself as one of those who have not done well to uplift the status of the region through his own state.

The said projects’ funds were meant for the development of the Niger-delta region, but sadly, few individuals have decided to cheat our people and the region. As such, they need to be disciplined and made to face the full wrath of the law. It is also important to note that the problem of the underdevelopment of the region lies in our brothers’ and sisters’ hands, who were given the mandate to develop the place.

It is a “national tragedy” and rather an unfortunate situation that over 18 years, after the NDDC, oil and gas producing host communities in the Niger Delta region are still grappling with physical and socio-economic concerns that necessitated its creation in the first place. What is even more disturbing is the reported avalanche of “abandoned projects” and absolute wastes and pilfering of allocated funds by the NDDC throughout these years across the nine benefitting States of the region. These are serious issues with the NDDC we strongly hope that the new leadership of the Commission, would earnestly seek to address. The entire NDDC needs to be completely overhauled and every element of corruption exposed and those found wanting made to pay for the consequences of their evil actions against the people of the region.

Among other things, the NDDC was created under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000, to help identify factors inhibiting the development of oil and gas producing States, to conceive, plan and implement, in accordance with set rules and regulations, projects and programmes for the “sustainable development” of the area in the field of employment, industrialization, agriculture and fisheries. Rather than excel in these areas, the interventionist agency has made a huge success of littering the entire region with hundreds of sub-standard and abandoned projects worth billions of naira, while also awarding fraudulent contracts, as well as, issuing certificates of completion for contracts not executed.

The NDDC has not only failed to achieve the aims and objectives for which it was established in the first place, but it has also transfigured itself to being a “conduit pipe” for wasting public funds. It is on record that the NDDC, since its inception, has been receiving huge amount of funds contributed by International Oil Companies (IOCs). For instance, major IOCs like the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) is contributing three percent of its annual budget to the NDDC as part of its Social Responsibilities toward the development of the Niger Delta region. Similar contributions are done by other IOCs. And these are funds running into billions of Naira. Regrettable, the NDDC has not been able to utilise these funds, plus that provided by the Federal Government’s purse, to physically bear on and positively impact considerably, the host communities of the Niger Delta region.

If all the public funds ever voted/budgeted for/in the NDDC, Niger Delta Ministry and all the other State Intervention Development agencies, plus the State revenue allocations, etc, were judiciously used with all sincerity of purpose; we are very certain that by now, there will not be any word like “riverine and creek areas” used to describe most parts of the Niger Delta region.  Today most of the so called riverine areas like Ogulagha (Frocados), Ogidigben (Excravos) areas are still unaccessible by roads. If our political leaders in Government have been sincere in utilizing the funds meant for the Niger Delta region, we believe by now we would have witnessed the development of all the riverine/coastal regions/areas of the region get transformed into “tourist attraction spots” and Sea Ports like we have in Singapore, some parts of London like Maritime Greenwich and North Greenwich areas that are practically built around rivers. But are today tourist spots for foreign attraction.

We therefore urge the Federal Government and relevant anti-graft agencies concerned not to leave any stone unturned in exposing and prosecuting those found wanting to have misappropriated funds meant for the development of the Niger Delta region through the NDDC, no matter who or what is involved.

Zik Gbemre,

September 6, 2019.

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