The Spaces for Change has reacted to the corruption scandals rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). It says the Commission which was meant for accelerating development in the Region has turned out to be a conduit pipe of corruption and diversion of funds
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In a statement made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL) signed by Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, said “Nigerians are no longer in doubt about the reason behind the endemic poverty and underdevelopment in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
The mindboggling allegations of corruption involving senior officials of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)—an institutional framework for accelerating development progress in the region—has turned out to be a drainpipe for chronic waste, executive profligacy and the brazen diversion of funds earmarked for community development. Between January and May, 2020 alone, about N81.5 billion spent by NDDC’s interim management could not be properly accounted for.”
S4C laments that inhabitants of the Niger Delta Regions live in poverty but yet billions of oil wealth are squandered on frivolities. Tuition fees of students on scholarship of the Commission in several parts of the world are unpaid and Child mortality for the region is 200 per 1000 per year due to malaria.
S4C further laments that top officials and institutions of the Region have been accused of corruption including federal lawmakers. It fears that the latest revelations, if unpunished and stolen monies unrecovered, could pave way for the resumption of militancy activities in the region, with disastrous consequences for the country’s oil output and revenue earnings.
The statement reads in part:
“In the last few weeks, the electronic and print media, including a sea of social media sites have been deluged with screaming headlines detailing how NDDC officials splashed obscene amounts of money on ridiculous expenses like Lassa fever, condolences, imprest, maintenance etc. Although international borders have been closed since March 2020 when the index case of coronavirus was discovered in Nigeria, NDDC officials claim a whooping sum of N85.6Million (USD220,000) was expended on foreign travel between January to May 2020. None of these expenditures align with the agency’s overarching functions which include regional policy formulation and implementation, environmental remediation, execution of development projects such as the construction of roads, jetties health centers, schools, industries, agriculture and fisheries, housing, water supply, electricity and so forth.
“Comprised of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, Delta, Ondo, Imo and Abia states, the inhabitants of the region live in crushing poverty amid the billions of oil wealth squandered on frivolities. The chronic underdevelopment of the region starkly contrasts with over $40bn (N15 trillion) of NDDC receipts since inception. As officials divert public funds into their personal pockets, the scholarship tuition of NDDC beneficiaries enrolled in numerous foreign educational institutions remains unpaid, leaving indigenes of the region studying abroad in great want and difficulty. With healthcare infrastructure absent in most of the region’s hard-to-reach riverine communities, malaria remains the number one cause of mortality and morbidity in the area. Child mortality for this region is 200 per 1000 per year.
“For the people of the Niger Delta, the odds are heavily stacked against them. Disempowered by decades of poverty and neglect, they are unable to hold erring leaders and institutions accountable. Too many officials, including regulatory institutions responsible for ensuring probity in the region’s affairs, have all been linked to the festival of sleaze. Shocking revelations emerging from the public hearing conducted by federal legislative committees—of both the Senate and the House of Representatives—showed how NDDC officials, with the tacit connivance of federal legislators raped the region’s resources with impunity. The Committee also found that NDDC contracts worth over N67Billion were never executed. The lawmakers of both the Senate and House were not only indicted, but also, accused of ‘hijacking’ the commission’s budgets over the years, and appropriating most of the agency’s over-bloated contracts to themselves. The Niger Delta minister charged with the supervisory responsibility for NDDC’s affairs has also been named in a chain of fraudulent activities.
“The establishment of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI)in 2003 has neither discouraged financial recklessness, nor deterred officials from embezzling funds set aside for the socio-economic development of the region. Poorly-regulated petroleum exploration and production activities by oil multinational corporations continue to unleash the mayhem of pollution, environmental degradation, total or partial destruction of vegetation in many locations, destroying the peoples’ ability to live and make a livelihood. From one oil-producing state to another, oil companies operating in the region have carried on their oil extraction operations without regard for the health of the local communities: flaring gas, disposing toxic wastes into the air, the subsoil and local waterways in violation of applicable national and international environmental standards. There have been little or no consequences for these violations.
“After several years of lull in violence and considerable peace in the region, it is clear that the multiple grievances that triggered the violent conflict of the late 90s, necessitating the establishment of the NDDC, have remained largely unmet. The latest revelations, if unpunished and stolen monies unrecovered, could pave way for the resumption of militancy activities in the region, with disastrous consequences for the country’s oil output and revenue earnings.”
S4C suggests that a “coherent, holistic and people-focused intervention is now necessary to prevent surging local discontent from rising to a level that would be too difficult to repair.”
It advises President Buhari to sack the Minister of Niger Delta affairs, Godswill Akpabio; disband interim management Committee of the Commission and launch an investigation into the Commission’s contracts.
“It is on this premise that SPACES FOR CHANGE [S4C) is calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to:
1. Immediately relieve the current minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, of his duties, pending the outcome of the investigations of alleged misfeasance in public office, particularly involving fraudulent handling of NDDC contract deals.
2. Immediately disband the 5-member Interim Management Committee (IMC), and reconstitute the board of the Commission as stipulated by law. The IMC’s theatrical displays at the parliamentary hearings coupled with their continuing inability to account for N81.5 billion spent between January to May 2020, casts a strong shadow of doubt on their moral and professional capability to hold public office.
3. Direct the EFCC to immediately launch an independent probe into NDDC contracts, especially abandoned projects and projects awarded and paid for, but not executed from 2015 till date. Indicted contractors should be prosecuted with the aim of recovering and remitting all misappropriated funds into the Commission’s coffers.
4. Investigate allegations of hijack of NDDC budgets and preferential contract awards to serving public officers and federal lawmakers, with a view to identifying, naming, prosecuting and bringing all indicted persons to book.
5. Recognizing that oil revenues, including NDDC budgets have been grossly mismanaged and distributed inequitably, FG is urged to consider an alternative benefit-sharing regime that prioritizes communities’ choice, capabilities, and agency, through legal guarantees of the pre-eminent rights of communities to approve or veto NDDC projects. Any new benefit-sharing framework considered must establish robust grievance mechanisms that are accessible to communities and linked directly to NDDC project performance.
6. Set up an independent 10-man civil society project monitoring unit attached to the NDDC, comprised of reputable traditional rulers, civil society leaders, women and youth movements operating in the region, with the responsibility of maintaining active relationships built on trust with communities, carrying out participatory baseline studies of the community’s socioeconomic priorities and providing advisory opinion to the NDDC Board during the appraisal and evaluation processes of proposed and completed projects respectively.” the statement reads
Spaces for Change (S4C) is a non-profit organization working to infuse human rights into social and economic governance processes in Nigeria.
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