The NDDC Act is Good

Comrade Ebi Arogbofa, National Chairman of Transparency And Accountability Advancement Group continues the insistent call on President Muhammadu Buhari to end the reign of illegities at the Niger Delta Development Commission

Our attention has been drawn to comments credited to Mr Olubunmni Tunji-Ojo, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Niger Delta, which oversights the Niger Delta Development Commission, that he is proposing a bill for the NDDC Act to be repealed and replaced with a new law.

Tunji-Ojo said the bill he is proposing will stipulate minimum qualifications for the offices of the Managing Director and the Executive Directors.

Tunji-Ojo’s new proposal to repeal the NDDC Act is mischievous, especially given that the current legislation is very clear on the qualifications for the executive positions. Under Part V, Section 12(1) and (1a), the NDDC Act provides that: “There shall be for the Commission, a Managing Director, and two Executive Directors who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas starting with the member states of the Commission with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate amongst member states in the order of production; (a) have such qualification and experience as are appropriate for a person required to perform the functions of those offices under this Act.”

Tunji-Ojo “said it was an irony that the law establishing the commission does not provide any punishment for any infraction committed within the commission.” This is not true as there are more than enough provisions in the EFCC Act, the ICPC Act and the criminal code to punish those who commit infractions in any public institution, the NDDC inclusive. There is no need for this Tunji-Ojo merry go round proposal to replace the NDDC Act, except it is clearly what it is, an agenda to prolong the Interim arrangement.

Indeed, the statements from TunjiOjo in recent times indicate how he and some of his colleagues have acquiesced to the illegalities being undertaken at the NDDC by the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godshill Akpabio and the Interim Sole Administrator.

Tunji-Ojo and his colleagues should first answer for their failure to defend the NDDC Act as it is now when the Minister brazenly ignored the law, disregarded the Governing Board appointed by the President and cleared by the National Assembly in line with the NDDC Act, and, instead, appointed interim managements since October 2019. The NDDC has been operating outside the ambit of the NDDC Act since October 2019, yet Tunji-Ojo and his colleagues did nothing to ensure that the provisions of the NDDC Act are followed.

The House of Representatives, and indeed the National Assembly, must steer clear of the fraudulent antics of Tunji-Ojo. We recall that Tunji-Ojo presided over the House of Representatives Committee that probed the last NDDC Interim Management Committee, between May and July last year, but failed to present the report of the committee to the House of Representatives for adoption despite revelations of fraud, financial recklessness and mismanagement of funds running into several billions of naira.

How can a committee chairman who compromises an oversight investigation talk now of amending the NDDC Act as if that was what made him inert in presenting the report of his committee’s investigation? We are not unaware of the meetings held between Akpabio and Tunji-Ojo, including one at his office in the National Assembly, during the investigation. Tunji-Ojo actually frustrated the conclusion of that probe by failing/refusing to present the report of the probe, to the House of Representatives for its adoption, to date. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the

online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

Nigeria is exporting more products by air than it has ever done in the past and most of the products are meant for Nigerians who live abroad, THISDAY’s findings showed.

The development was confirmed by aviation handling companies, which stated that export of perishables and other Nigerian edible products was on the rise.

The Managing Director of Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc (SAHCOL), Basil Agboarumi told THISDAY in a telephone chat that Nigerians in Diaspora long for Nigerian foods and other items, adding that Nigerian businessmen and women have risen to the occasion by providing and packaging these products according to required specification to export them.

As a handling company, Agboarumi said his organisation has the needed facilities to keep the product in the standard condition as required by each country it is to be exported to before such products are taken out of the country.

The SAHCOL boss said that most of the products are taken to Europe, the United States and other places and each country has its specifications for the screening and preservation of the products.

He also said the handling companies, which provide services for the export of these products, are expected to have certification that would qualify them to handle the exports.

He also acknowledged that the rate of export cannot be matched with the volume of imports but what is interesting is that there were not much exports few years ago, so the increase in the export of Nigerian products is a recent development.

“There are a lot of things that are being exported from Nigeria and these include farm produce; edibles, manufactured goods, hair extension and even vehicle spares that are exported to some countries in Africa.

“So now that export is rising, the handling companies ought to have certain facilities and to meet the standard of each exporting country.

“These requirements are known by Customs so they inspect the products to ensure they meet the standard of the countries they are being taken to.

“Other agencies such as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Quarantine and others inspect the products before they are packaged and loaded in aircraft and exported,” Agboarumi said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Mainstream Cargo Limited, Seyi Adewale, told THISDAY that Nigeria was building big business around the export market.

He stated that airline cargo export has significantly increased, adding that most of the exports are going to the UK, where Nigeria has high population and also other parts of Europe.

“Airline cargo export has significantly increased. For example, one of the major cargo airlines only recently moved up its export tariff because it couldn’t cope with approximately 60 tonnes of general foodstuff item to UK.

“UK remains Nigeria’s primary destination of foodstuff followed by Germany and USA. In fact, German authorities appear to be placing strict restrictions on foodstuff items from Nigeria. Secondly, repair of spares, such as turbines are very significant exports out of Nigeria

“Another European carrier that uses half of its passenger