Tuesday, July 21, 2020 /
08:57 AM / By Reuben Abati* / Header Image Credit: Ecographics
It is a show of shame isn't it, what is
going on at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)? Established in the
year 2000 to assuage the fears of the people of the Niger Delta and address
their concerns about the lack of infrastructural development in the region,
despite the region's contributions to the sustenance of Nigeria, it is sad to
see how like all good initiatives gone bad in Nigeria, this interventionist
agency has become, or has been exposed as a festering sore upon the wound of
the Niger Delta.
From personality clashes to sordid tales
of mismanagement of funds, contractors that collect mobilization fees and
simply take a walk, politicians in the National Assembly feeding fat on Niger
Delta resources, and reports of terrifying wasteful expenditure and the
conversion of every event or situation: graduation ceremonies and even COVID-19
into an opportunity to empty the people's till, the stench from the NDDC stinks
to the heavens. In the past week, we have been treated to the kind of melodrama
an artist may never have imagined, complete with the stuff of a fainting fit, a
failed romantic attempt, a woman scorned, and hell breaking loose and a once
self-styled uncommon Governor as the deutragonist.
It is this latter part of the plot that
has excited, amused and fascinated Nigerians. The protagonist is Joi Nunieh,
the former Acting Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee (IMC)
of the NDDC (October. 2019- February 2020) who left the commission rather
abruptly due to a yet unproven allegation around and about her NYSC certificate
and so-called "insubordination". In the course of a forensic audit of the
agency ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari, it is noteworthy that all the
hidden corpses in the NDDC especially within the last one year began to show
up, and some of those ghosts emerged in the form of financial sleaze and broken
alliances and failed relationships. The supervising Minister of the Commission,
the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, a once powerful
PDP chieftain, turned an APC floor member, went on television to offer his
perspective on what transpired at the NDDC (he must be regretting doing so);
rather than address the issues, he launched an attack on Joi Nunieh, who worked
briefly as Acting Chairman of the NDDC.
He complained about how the lady had
married four husbands and called on those four men, who, if they exist at all,
have lent themselves common sense and stayed off the radar. The Minister also
made an allusion to Joi Nunieh's state of health. Of course, she didn't take it
lying low. She seized the occasion with every ounce of oxygen in her body and
smashed the table on which Akpabio leaned his bulky frame in the studio. In the
course of her now famous interview on Arise TV, we were treated to the sub-plot
of how Akpabio failing to dictate to her or control her actions adopted a "Plan
B," which is basically a plan to "entangle" her in "the other room." She
disclosed that what the "uncommon former Governor" from Akwa Ibom State got in
response was an "uncommon slap in the face". It must have been one of
those hot, dirty, blinding slaps that result in a momentary loss of vision and
a loud scream of Ye!. Akpabio as Governor used to refer to Akwa Ibom as "Gilgal." His current travail is like a journey from Gilgal to Golgotha. He
insists that Joi Nunieh is lying. He says he has asked his lawyers to go to
court.
You probably know the rest of the story:
how things went downhill afterwards: the attempt to arrest Joi Nunieh at her
Port Harcourt residence, a detachment of about 50 policemen knocking on the
gates, smashing doors as if they were after a Colombian drug lord, Governor
Nyesom Wike's ironic, swashbuckling gallantry (can you imagine a PDP Governor
protecting an APC member from members of her own party?), the sordid spectacle
of the current Acting Chairman of the NDDC, Professor Keme Pondei walking out
on the House of Representatives Committee on the NDDC, after practically
accusing the Chair of the Committee of being an interested party in the matter,
and the same Committee issuing a warrant of arrest to call Pondei to order.
Earlier, the same Professor Keme Pondei allegedly disclosed how members of the
IMC which he leads spent N1.8 billion on themselves alone as COVID palliative
within three months! When he eventually showed up at the House of
Representatives yesterday, and he was reminded that he and his colleagues had
helped themselves to funds that were not covered in the approved NDDC Budget,
he started fanning himself in an air-conditioned room and before anyone knew
it, he slumped atop his table! His detractors argue that he was merely playing
his role: an Acting MD, acting out a scene in the NDDC
drama.
Stakeholders within the NGO community
who claim that they have been monitoring the NDDC for years, in fact, suggest
that we haven't seen anything yet and that if a thorough forensic audit is
conducted, Nigerians will be shocked beyond their marrows. But can anything be
worse than what we have seen and heard so far? These stakeholders also argue
that all the drama that our eyes have seen so far is at best a distraction and an
orchestrated cover up attempt. The only problem is that the Niger Delta NGO
community has also been fingered in some of the stories for having received
patronage from the NDDC for work not done. If indeed things get more curious, a
list of beneficiary-NGOs may surface, and we may all get busy struggling to
lift the veil. We should be watchful. A Professor slumped yesterday. Someone
else could have a heart attack tomorrow!
But where are the people of the Niger
Delta in all of this? What are their views on the on-going controversy? They
are the ones who have been short-changed the most. The NDDC, originally
OMPADEC, was part of a series of policy measures including derivation,
ecological fund, and infrastructure development plans to address the marginalization
of the Niger Delta people, check youth restiveness in the region and promote
peace and stability.
Since inception, the NDDC has been
managed by persons from the Niger Delta. A Ministry of the Niger Delta was also
created, and to date, only persons from the Niger Delta have headed that
Ministry. And yet all of these issues! The usual tendency is to say that the
NDDC was designed to fail, but that is certainly not true. The goal was
principled - to bring development to the Niger Delta. It will also be incorrect
to say that the people have not seen any development at all. In 1999,
parts of the Niger Delta were in a complete mess. I recall visiting Yenagoa in
2000. The Governor then was the late Governor-General of the Niger Delta, the
famous Diepreye Alamiyesiegha. Yenagoa, the state capital had only one visible
road, which looked like something constructed in the 1960s. I saw one bank: the
defunct All States Trust, I believe. And one fuel station with a broken,
solitary, pump. And there was a higher education college whose female students
were friendly and hospitable beyond comparison! Today, Yenagoa looks different,
and the same may be said of other areas of the Niger Delta. The improvement
does not go far enough, however, because the major threats to the people's
lives: critical infrastructure like the East-West Highway, environmental
crisis, and unemployment remain visible.
Governors of the Niger Delta since 1999
may claim credit for this improvement that we have seen but the perception in
Nigeria is that the OMPADEC/NDDC intervention has helped to some degree
resulting in the request by other regions for a similar intervention agency.
Nonetheless, recent revelations that contractors and officials of the NDDC have
been busy pilfering the funds of the Commission is at best stupefying, the
sheer scale of it is benumbing. The N81.5 billion that was allegedly diverted
within two months sounds like enough money to transform the health sector in
parts of the Niger Delta in a season of COVID-19. So, this is not the time for
the people of the Niger Delta to make the usual defensive point that anybody
from the Niger Delta is entitled to take Niger Delta money. The view that "it is our money taken by our children" is unacceptable. The Niger Delta
struggle was based on the ideals of justice, equity, development and progress,
no latter-day revisionist should impose on the people of the Niger Delta, a
Barkin Zuwo philosophy. I bring this up because I have read some comments by
some members of the Niger Delta elite insisting that the big issue is that the
NDDC has not been properly funded and that the thing to do is to release all
outstanding funds to the Commission. Is that why the trillions in contention
had to be mismanaged? Is that the issue on the table? There should be a more
robust conversation about the development process in the Niger Delta beyond the
confusing argument that this is a conflict between "a political Niger Delta" and "a geographical Niger Delta" or that the only way forward is to throw in
more money.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered
two major audits in recent times: the audit of the Niger Delta Development
Commission and that of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Both should be taken as a personal reaffirmation of his commitment to one of
the major planks of his proposed legacy at the inception of his administration
in 2015: that is the fight against corruption. But beyond the
anti-corruption battle, there is an emerging downside to the Buhari
administration: the constant bickering, the cult of personality and the
externalization of battles over territory within the government. In a
Presidential democracy, a President appoints persons to assist him, he
delegates authority to them and they are required to help him achieve the
objectives of his administration. Under President Buhari, the in-fighting among
his team conveys the impression that many of his appointees are either not
interested in his own objectives or they are on a frolic of their own. We have
had the Director General of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission at logger
heads with the Minister of Communications over office space; Minister of
Information vs. DG National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Minister of Labour
and Employment vs. MD NSITF, Joy Nunieh vs Godswill Akpabio; Minister of Health
vs. Executive Secretary, NHIS, AGF Malami vs EFCC Chair Magu, DSS vs. EFCC,
First Lady vs. Presidential aides…all fighting-to-finish as if "Oga is not
around". They have done so much damage. Five years ago, the fear of Buhari's
war against corruption was the beginning of wisdom Today, his own appointees
and political associates have messed up the message and strategy. The economy
is in bad shape. The war against terror is not working..
Whatever is happening is a wake-up call
and an opportunity for Mr. President to steady the ship. He needs to rescue his
government from ambitious and disloyal individuals and strengthen the
institutions of state. He should disband the present Interim Management
Committee of the NDDC and sack the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. The Board
of the NDDC as provided for in the Enabling Act should be immediately
constituted. The audit of the Commission must be totally independent without
any interference. The major challenge at the NDDC is that politics has been
placed above development objectives. That must change with appropriate
mechanisms put in place. On the war against corruption, the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC) should also be audited.
Thereafter, it should be merged with the EFCC. The new EFCC should then be unbundled. It should have autonomous departments: an investigation department, a prosecution department and an enforcement department, all headed separately by professionals who will not be required to report to one individual. The EFCC must also be disengaged from the Nigerian Police. Since inception, only policemen have led the EFCC. How about neutral persons or graduates of the EFCC Academy that has produced many officers who have enjoyed international training and who joined the EFCC with the hope that they were looking forward to a career? The President must restore dignity and respect to the governance process.
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Previous Posts by Dr. Reuben Abati
1. Governance Beyond COVID-19: Back to Kwara
2. Coping with Coronanomics -
Abati
3. Corona Blues - Abati - Apr 07, 2020
4. The Psychology of COVID-19 - Abati
5. Amotekun: The Politics of Protection - Abati
6. New Electricity Tariffs: Questions by Reuben Abati - Jan 07, 2020
7. Omoyele Sowore: Portrait of A Life in Protest - Abati - Dec 10, 2019
8. Of Constituency Offices and Projects - Abati - Dec 03, 2019
9. The Supreme Court and the Atiku Election Petition -
Abati - Nov
05, 2019
10. The Constitutional Crisis in Kogi - Abati - Oct 30, 2019
11. The Spiritual Solution to Boko Haram - Abati - Oct 08, 2019
12. Oct 1: The Journey So Far - Oct 01, 2019
13. Presidential Powers and The Vice President - Sept 24, 2019
14. Nigeria, Xenophobia and Ramaphosa's Apology - Sept 18, 2019
15. Mohammed Adoke Writes Back - Sept 18, 2019
16. P and ID vs. Nigeria: A Review by Reuben Abati - Sept 10, 2019
17. When Soldiers Do Police Work: Disaster - Aug 14, 2019
18. Peter
Drucker And The Things That Changed
19. FBI,
Nigerian Fraudsters and Other Stories
20. P and
ID vs. Nigeria: A Review by Reuben Abati
21. When
Soldiers Do Police Work: Disaster
23. The
Speech Buhari Didn't Make
24. The
People's Revolt in Algeria and Sudan
25. The
Obasanjo Bombshell - Abati
26. Ogun
2019 Politics And Deployment Of Violence - My Encounter, Reuben Abati
27. Chief
Anthony Anenih: A Personal And Political Portrait
28. The "Oshiomhole
Must Go" Coalition
29. Beyond Fayose: The Future Of Ekiti State
30. The "Spirit of Error" In Nigerian Politics
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