WHO DO WE BLAME FOR THE LAPSES AND LOOTING OF NDDC FUNDS?
November 1, 2022 | News
The blame for the failures of the NDDC is without a doubt, deliberately caused by President Mohammadu Buhari, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio
-By Zik Gbemre
WHO DO WE BLAME FOR THE LAPSES AND LOOTING OF NDDC FUNDS?
The blame for the failures of the NDDC is without a doubt, deliberately caused by President Mohammadu Buhari, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio and Obong Umana as the current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs…
The subject question came to mind with regards to recent reports that noted that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umana Umana, has said that the disengaged Sole Administrator of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Effiong Akwa, must account for the N300 billion projects awarded without due process under his leadership.
Addressing the NDDC staff, the minister said: “The perception is that NDDC has failed. There is also the perception about widespread, endemic corruption in the commission. True or false, I don’t think it is a good story that you go somewhere and you are introduced as a staff of NDDC and the first thing the person must be thinking about you is that this must be one of the corrupt ones.
“Even for your children, it is not a good story. It is in your hands to change that perception. There is a total failure. It is that failure that makes it possible for one man to sit alone in this commission and issue awards letters without due process, of N200 billion, N300 billion, under the guise of emergency. This is a clear cut impunity we cannot tolerate. Already we are talking of indebtedness of over N3 trillion and one man will still sit alone and issue letters of another N300 billion without following due processes? And this was during pendency of the forensic audit.”
For me, I think it is out of place for the said Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs, Umana, to blame the former sole administrator of the NDDC for awarding 300-billion-naira contracts without due process. And also blaming every person in the NDDC that they should be shameful themselves and their families. The blame game by the Minister on the failures of the NDDC is to me, a face-saving trick, and placing the spotlight on others but himself and the Presidency.
The blame for the failures of the NDDC is without a doubt, deliberately caused by President Mohammadu Buhari, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio and Umana himself as the current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. When these persons in the Presidency, have made a mockery of the NDDC and have created the platform for such high-profile corrupt practices to be the order of the day in the Commission, why won't one man, as supposed “Sole administrator,” just award contracts worth billions of naira by himself without due process?
What do they expect to happen when President Buhari has in the last few years refused to inaugurate the Management Board that he appointed himself, duly screened and approved by the Senate, to manage and see to the activities of the NDDC?
Agreed that since the creation of the NDDC in year 2000 by the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, primarily to address the developmental gaps and neglect in the Niger Delta region that have been crying of marginalization and underdevelopment, despite being the country’s economic backbone that feeds other sectors and Government activities – the Commission has sadly, been made a conduit pipe for the pilfering of public funds to enrich the private pockets of those in the corridors of power. And this started from the moment the first Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr. Godwin Omene, was deliberately removed by these corrupt politicians so that they can have their way with the Commission. However, this unhealthy situation of the politicking within, and around the NDDC, have eventually gotten out of hand with the interplay of self-driven interests, which was deliberately made worse by the President Buhari-led Federal Government. This is what has led us to where we are today.
It was only some days ago that President Buhari was said to have sent a fresh list of nominees to the Senate for screening members that will form the NDDC Board. And as expected, this has not gone down well with many stakeholders in the region because it was coming when the President Buhari's administration only has few months left to leave office.
Some stakeholders in the region have even called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resend to the Senate the names of the Governing Board of the NDDC, screened and approved since November 2019. In the words of a notable stakeholder: “President Buhari should match his words with action by resending the board members already screened and confirmed by the National Assembly, made up of men of impeccable character, which he failed to inaugurate for three years with no justifiable reason.
“The sack of the erstwhile interim administrator, Mr. Effiong Akwa, was long overdue and it is nothing to celebrate about. The fact is that a few months to the end of Buhari’s eight-year administration, he turned the NDDC into a cash cow to the detriment of the Niger Delta and its people. If the government of Muhammadu Buhari is sincere and means well for the Niger Delta after using NDDC to pacify his political associates that betrayed the region for his emergence as the president, we urge him to proceed immediately by inaugurating the already screened and confirmed board members by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The people of Niger Delta will accept a board that represents the law setting up the NDDC.”
When a President does whatever, he likes, without listening to the cries and yearnings of the people he is supposed to govern, then that person is nothing but a civilian-styled-dictator who has no intention to see a particular region of the country developed as it should. These are my thoughts, and I believe the thoughts and mindset of the majority of Nigerians in the South-South region, whenever I consider the actions and dispositions of President Buhari concerning the NNDC and the Federal Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs.
President Buhari, Senator Akpabio and Umana are to be held responsible for disobeying the NDDC Act. There is no space or provision for a supposed ‘Sole administrator’ in the NDDC. But because President Buhari and co., deliberately wanted NDDC to be looted and mismanaged by stooges appointed by them for that purpose, they created that office for their selfish interest.
So, the said former sole administrator cannot be said to have done anything wrong in the first instance. He did not put himself there as a sole administrator of NDDC. But was appointed by Buhari and Akpabio to loot NDDC. So, blaming and accusing him of misconduct is irrelevant at this point in time.
The failures of NDDC are caused by the Federal Government of the day. Sadly, every government comes and go and they end up doing the same thing all over again. I maintain that President Buhari, Senator Akpabio and Umana should be held responsible for all the wrongs in the NNDC at the moment. They created the room for the high-profile looting in the NDDC. Though looting has been going on NDDC for years, but Buhari and co., perfected the looting with the establishment of one-sole-administrator-business in the Commission.
Zik Gbemre
November 1, 2022
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
-By Zik Gbemre
WHO DO WE BLAME FOR THE LAPSES AND LOOTING OF NDDC FUNDS?
The blame for the failures of the NDDC is without a doubt, deliberately caused by President Mohammadu Buhari, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio and Obong Umana as the current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs…
The subject question came to mind with regards to recent reports that noted that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umana Umana, has said that the disengaged Sole Administrator of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Effiong Akwa, must account for the N300 billion projects awarded without due process under his leadership.
Addressing the NDDC staff, the minister said: “The perception is that NDDC has failed. There is also the perception about widespread, endemic corruption in the commission. True or false, I don’t think it is a good story that you go somewhere and you are introduced as a staff of NDDC and the first thing the person must be thinking about you is that this must be one of the corrupt ones.
“Even for your children, it is not a good story. It is in your hands to change that perception. There is a total failure. It is that failure that makes it possible for one man to sit alone in this commission and issue awards letters without due process, of N200 billion, N300 billion, under the guise of emergency. This is a clear cut impunity we cannot tolerate. Already we are talking of indebtedness of over N3 trillion and one man will still sit alone and issue letters of another N300 billion without following due processes? And this was during pendency of the forensic audit.”
For me, I think it is out of place for the said Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs, Umana, to blame the former sole administrator of the NDDC for awarding 300-billion-naira contracts without due process. And also blaming every person in the NDDC that they should be shameful themselves and their families. The blame game by the Minister on the failures of the NDDC is to me, a face-saving trick, and placing the spotlight on others but himself and the Presidency.
The blame for the failures of the NDDC is without a doubt, deliberately caused by President Mohammadu Buhari, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio and Umana himself as the current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. When these persons in the Presidency, have made a mockery of the NDDC and have created the platform for such high-profile corrupt practices to be the order of the day in the Commission, why won't one man, as supposed “Sole administrator,” just award contracts worth billions of naira by himself without due process?
What do they expect to happen when President Buhari has in the last few years refused to inaugurate the Management Board that he appointed himself, duly screened and approved by the Senate, to manage and see to the activities of the NDDC?
Agreed that since the creation of the NDDC in year 2000 by the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, primarily to address the developmental gaps and neglect in the Niger Delta region that have been crying of marginalization and underdevelopment, despite being the country’s economic backbone that feeds other sectors and Government activities – the Commission has sadly, been made a conduit pipe for the pilfering of public funds to enrich the private pockets of those in the corridors of power. And this started from the moment the first Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr. Godwin Omene, was deliberately removed by these corrupt politicians so that they can have their way with the Commission. However, this unhealthy situation of the politicking within, and around the NDDC, have eventually gotten out of hand with the interplay of self-driven interests, which was deliberately made worse by the President Buhari-led Federal Government. This is what has led us to where we are today.
It was only some days ago that President Buhari was said to have sent a fresh list of nominees to the Senate for screening members that will form the NDDC Board. And as expected, this has not gone down well with many stakeholders in the region because it was coming when the President Buhari's administration only has few months left to leave office.
Some stakeholders in the region have even called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resend to the Senate the names of the Governing Board of the NDDC, screened and approved since November 2019. In the words of a notable stakeholder: “President Buhari should match his words with action by resending the board members already screened and confirmed by the National Assembly, made up of men of impeccable character, which he failed to inaugurate for three years with no justifiable reason.
“The sack of the erstwhile interim administrator, Mr. Effiong Akwa, was long overdue and it is nothing to celebrate about. The fact is that a few months to the end of Buhari’s eight-year administration, he turned the NDDC into a cash cow to the detriment of the Niger Delta and its people. If the government of Muhammadu Buhari is sincere and means well for the Niger Delta after using NDDC to pacify his political associates that betrayed the region for his emergence as the president, we urge him to proceed immediately by inaugurating the already screened and confirmed board members by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The people of Niger Delta will accept a board that represents the law setting up the NDDC.”
When a President does whatever, he likes, without listening to the cries and yearnings of the people he is supposed to govern, then that person is nothing but a civilian-styled-dictator who has no intention to see a particular region of the country developed as it should. These are my thoughts, and I believe the thoughts and mindset of the majority of Nigerians in the South-South region, whenever I consider the actions and dispositions of President Buhari concerning the NNDC and the Federal Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs.
President Buhari, Senator Akpabio and Umana are to be held responsible for disobeying the NDDC Act. There is no space or provision for a supposed ‘Sole administrator’ in the NDDC. But because President Buhari and co., deliberately wanted NDDC to be looted and mismanaged by stooges appointed by them for that purpose, they created that office for their selfish interest.
So, the said former sole administrator cannot be said to have done anything wrong in the first instance. He did not put himself there as a sole administrator of NDDC. But was appointed by Buhari and Akpabio to loot NDDC. So, blaming and accusing him of misconduct is irrelevant at this point in time.
The failures of NDDC are caused by the Federal Government of the day. Sadly, every government comes and go and they end up doing the same thing all over again. I maintain that President Buhari, Senator Akpabio and Umana should be held responsible for all the wrongs in the NNDC at the moment. They created the room for the high-profile looting in the NDDC. Though looting has been going on NDDC for years, but Buhari and co., perfected the looting with the establishment of one-sole-administrator-business in the Commission.
Zik Gbemre
November 1, 2022
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes