Applauding Akpabio’s Repositioning of the NDDC Anietie Ekong
Reiterates why President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission
In his continuing effort to deliver a more development-driven Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), President Muhammadu Buhari on March 10, 2020 inaugurated the Advisory Committee of the Commission. The committee is made up of the nine governors of the Niger Delta states and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and his Environment counterpart. Similarly, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio had also inaugurated the Presidential Monitoring Committee of the NDDC.
Recently, the President approved the enlargement of the Interim Management Committee of the Commission from three to five. Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei was announced as the new Acting Managing Director, replacing Barrister Joi Nunieh while two ladies: Mrs. Caroline Nagbo and Cecilia Bukola Akintomide were added to the Committee. Chief Ibanga Etang (Acting Executive Director, Finance and Administration) and Dr. Cairo Ojougboh (Acting Executive Director, Projects) retained their positions.
These are measures put in place to strengthen the Commission to achieve its mandate. Inaugurating the new Committee, Akpabio said the story of NDDC in the last 19 years has not been rosy. “You have a stunted child who could have been a six-footer. We need to find out the reason why the child could not grow. That is why he ordered the forensic audit of the Commission. As soon as the forensic auditor was appointed, there was need to inject new blood into the Interim Management Committee. The NDDC must change and we will all work together to achieve that,” Senator Akpabio said.
There is a general consensus that the NDDC has not lived up to the expectation of the Niger Delta people and other Nigerians. There is an agreement that what is on ground in the Niger Delta region does not justify the humongous resources that have been made available to the Commission.
A Commission with the potentials of changing the development narrative of the Niger Delta region has, according to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, turned into an automated teller machine (ATM) to politicians and few privileged individuals who have access to the men in power, while the ordinary Niger Delta people are left to bear the brunt of environmental degradation, poverty and underdevelopment.
All the governors of the Niger Delta states agree that the NDDC has not lived up to the expectation of the people. It was in response to their complaints about the humongous sleaze that have been perpetrated in the interventionist agency over the years that made President Buhari to order the forensic auditing of the Commission from 2001 to 2019. The decision has been hailed as a courageous step by the President to redirect the Commission on a path of development.
With all the financial inflow from the Federal Government, the International Oil Companies, development partners and other sources, the current debt profile of NDDC stands at about N2 trillion. This has led to the littering of the region with over 12,000 uncompleted and abandoned projects. Typically, jobs done by the NDDC contractors are shoddy and sub-standard. It is the expectation of the Niger Delta people that the forensic audit as ordered by president Buhari will unravel what went wrong in NDDC and moving forward, how things could be done right.
-Ekong is Chief Press Secretary to the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs