Time-Wasting On NDDC

By Femi Macaulay

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Akpabio continues to project himself as a redeemer ordained to turn around the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Perhaps he is. But his redemption song has become disharmonious and he is beginning to seem like a redeemer in need of redemption.

More than three months after Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, received the NDDC forensic audit report from Akpabio, in Abuja, on September 2, there is little or nothing to show that the Federal Government understands the importance of implementing the report without a long delay.

Akpabio, who should be driving the process, is busy offering unconvincing explanations for the inexcusable lack of drive. His ministry’s response to the understandably intensified public demand for action from the authorities on the NDDC issue demonstrates the minister’s misreading of the situation and his role.

A statement on the constitution of the NDDC board, issued by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Babayo Ardo, on December 6, said: “The report of that audit has been submitted to Mr President who is studying it to come up with a formula for a commission fit for purpose. That formula is what the board being put together will work with.

“It is not in the interest of the region to stampede the government into aborting the reform process.”

The statement also said: “The President wants to give the region an interventionist agency that will realise the dreams of our fathers for our people and generations yet unborn.

“The Hon Minister is irrevocably committed to assisting Mr President to leave behind a legacy for the Niger Delta people , particularly saving the NDDC from dying like past developmental agencies put together for the region since 1958.”

It is commendable that Akpabio wants to save the NDDC, but he should not see himself as the only one who can do so. His approach leaves much to be desired. He has been criticised for allegedly misdirecting the Federal Government on the NDDC because he wants to be in control of the agency.

There is no doubt that the NDDC, established in 2000 by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, has failed to develop the Niger Delta as expected. Ironically, it is supposed to be a development agency, but has been identified as a major agent of underdevelopment in the oil-rich region.

The Federal Government had lamented the “uncompleted and unverified development projects” in the region “in spite of the huge resources made available to uplift the living standards of the citizens.”

The government said there were “over 13,777 projects, the execution of which is substantially compromised,” even though the commission got “approximately N6tn” from “budgetary allocation” and “income from statutory and non-statutory sources,” from 2001 to 2019.

When President Buhari, in October 2019, ordered a forensic audit of the agency’s operations from 2001 to 2019, the move suggested that his administration’s anti-corruption campaign had finally reached the NDDC.

The audit was reported to have started in April 2020. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a contract of N318m for the engagement of a lead consultant for the audit. It is curious that the exercise took well over a year.

It shouldn’t take that long to implement the report. Among the recommendations, presented by the Lead Forensic Auditor, Tabir Ahmed, is that the NDDC should be made to operate within the limits of its annual budget and ensure that only projects budgeted for are awarded each fiscal year.

The report also recommended that mobilisation payment be abolished, and the agency should employ project consultants to ensure accurate supervision and valuation of projects. Additionally, the report recommended that the agency should adopt a standard for costing contracts with appropriate profit margins.

According to the Federal Government, it will “apply the law to remedy the deficiencies outlined in the audit report as appropriate.” The government added: “This will include but not be limited to the initiation of criminal investigations, prosecution, recovery of funds not properly utilised for the public purposes for which they were meant for amongst others.” The goal is to improve the standard of living of the people of the Niger Delta “through the provision of adequate infrastructural and socio-economic development,” the government said.

More than three months after the tough talk, there is no sign that the Federal Government meant what it said. It is unclear whether the delay in implementing the report is because those implicated in the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta are trying to prevent the government from taking action against them. The government needs to demonstrate that it is against the region’s underdevelopment by implementing the report.

In December 2019, President Buhari’s spokesman said he had approved that the NDDC board ”be recomposed and inaugurated after the forensic audit of the organisation.” He also directed that the agency’s interim management team “shall be in place till the forensic audit is completed.”

The commission’s acting managing director, Prof. Daniel Pondei, was later removed, the government explained, as “a result of a plethora of litigation and a restraining order issued… against the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC by a Federal High Court in Abuja.”

President Buhari had earlier extended the tenure of the Prof. Keme Pondei-led Interim Management Committee from May 1 to December 31, 2020, and the extension was to cover the period of the forensic audit of the NDDC. The audit went beyond the date.

In December 2020, President Buhari had appointed an interim administrator to run the agency. Effiong Akwa, the agency’s acting executive director, finance and administration, was “to assume headship till completion of the forensic audit,” according to the government.

The forensic audit has not only been completed; the report was submitted to the government more than three months ago. It is abnormal that the NDDC is still controlled by an interim administrator appointed a year ago. This arrangement is not the same thing as having a lawfully appointed and approved board for the commission, with the implications for transparency and accountability.

According to Akpabio’s ministry, the board is “being put together.” The Federal Government should stop wasting time concerning reforming the NDDC. To demonstrate its seriousness, the presidency should constitute a board for the agency without further delay, and ensure that the audit report is implemented. That’s how to go about saving the NDDC.