*Sacked board failed to submit 2011 budget

Our Reporters

LAGOS -The erstwhile Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC Mr. Chibuzor Ugwoha was responsible for the crisis that led to the dissolution of the board, a former member of the board who was an active player in the crisis leading to the dissolution told Vanguard yesterday.

Mr. Benson Enikuomeyin who represented Ondo State in the dissolved board said he allegedly disregarded the advice of board members, thereby crppling the board which at the time of the dissolution was yet to articulate a working budget for the outgoing year.

Meanwhile, the dissolution of the board was yesterday generally commended by stakeholders from the region including Senators of the Niger Delta region.

While Senator James Manager, PDP, Delta South said the dissolution was not surprising to either the board members or stakeholders, Senator Ita Enang sought more involvement of Governors of the region who he said were statutory members of the NDDC advisory council in nudging the board towards proper conduct.

Senate Leader Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, (SAN), Senators Ehigie Uzamere (ACN, Edo South) and Odion Ugbesia (PDP, Edo Central) were others who joined stakeholders from the region in applauding the dissolution of the board.

Blaming Ugwhoa for the crisis that paralysed the board, Enikuomeyin said:

“The mess, in which Mr Chibuzor Ugwoha put us, irrevocably has led to this. I make bold to say that the board was not involved in any corruption and I can say this for myself,” he said yesterday.

Accusing the former Managing Director of disobeying instructions of the board, he said:

I recall on the 19th of April 2010, I moved a motion for his suspension because of his recalcitrant nature and he kept telling everybody that they want to take over his job. Who wants to take over his job,” he queried yesterday?

“You do your MD/CEOship as you are supposed to do, but at the end of the day, you should be accountable to a supervising authority, which the law puts in place, which is the board of the commission. The board is made up of 19 members.”

“If 18 members are saying this is the way to go and you have somebody whose penchant for disobedience is obvious; for me, if the sacrifice of dissolving the board will remove the Managing Director, it is a welcome development.”

“If what we suffer is for Mr. Chibuzor Ugwoha to be removed, if that will be the price to be paid, then, let it be the supreme price. I had thought that the tares and the wheat should be separated, but if the purpose of clearing the rubbish is to clean the place (NDDC) then let the rubbish be removed.

Efforts to reach Mr. Ugwuoha were uncessful
Senator Manager who as chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta twice warned the dissolved board in 2009 and 2011 on the early submission of the NDDC budget for Senate consideration lamented that the dissolved board was yet to even present the 2011 budget.

“The members of that board also knew that they were going to be dissolved because there was internal wrangling, the mistrust, the distrust right from the very beginning of that board,” Senator Manager told Vanguard yesterday.

“Unfortunately for this erstwhile board people didn’t allow peace and unity to reign. Several times attempts were made when I was chairman to resolve whatever they saw as their problem and it all proved abortive.”

“A very clear example is the case of the 2011 budget. As chairman of the committee then, I warned in 2009 and 2010 that the budget is supposed to come few months to the end of the year preceding the proposed budget year, but you would see that as a result of the confusion in that board that the budget which is supposed to have come up in September 2010 is yet to come and this is September 2011, we are supposed to be expecting the budget for 2012. And that is one clear example of a people who were terribly disorganized,.

Senator Ita Enang on his part called for greater involvement of the Governors in mediating internal crises of the NDDC. Citing the statutory role of the Governors as members of the advisory committee of the NDDC, he said:

“The Governors of the region should meet according to what the Act says. When we passed the Act we knew that there would be situations where there could be disagreements at the board level so we made a role for an advisory body to be made up of the Governors,” Enang who was a member of the House of Representatives when the NDDC Act was enacted in 2000.

“All others have been meeting but we have not heard of the Governors and we are pleading with them to meet in accordance with Section 11 of the Act which gives them a role of advising. I am sure that if they had advised that it wouldn’t have come to this,” Senator Enang said.

Senator Ehigie Uzamere, in his reaction said:
“It is a welcome development because the NDDC has been engulfed in internal crisis for many months now. The President took very good decision to allow all of them to go, this will give the commission a new lease of life by the time the new management comes on board for the overall development of the region.”

Senate Leader Ndoma-Egba speaking in the same vein said:
“The board has been crisis ridden for a while now and has become distracted from the core mandate. Everything done to reconcile the differences was without success.

“The Niger Delta is one of the focal points of this administration; every step taken was to justify the President’s mandate which is to ensure peace and development of the Niger Delta. I think in this circumstance, there is very little that can be done.”

Also contributing, Senator Odion Ugbesia, PDP, Edo West commended President Jonathan for sacking the board of the NDDC.

He described it as the right decision given the crisis in the commission and the inability of the board to settle their differences.

“Of course, it is good, with that kind of situation where there was crisis; there cannot be focus on the part of the commission. I think the government has taken the right decision.”

Former Senator Rowland Owie on his part said:

“Mr President was right in dissolving the NDDC Board. There is a Benin parable which says that only a bastard will sell the ancestral home of the family. Why should NDDC, with four fifth members of the Board and management from the nine oil producing states, become an organization of confusion? Either the chairman is in the cemetery or an MD is unilaterally opening foreign account and in the meantime, the oil producing areas are suffering physically, spiritually and developmentally.”

Other Reactions
Former national chairman of the Association of Traditional Rulers for Oil Producing Communities of Nigeria, ATROMPCON, His Royal Majesty, Charles AyemiBotu of Siembiri kingdom, Delta State and former national secretary of the body, Prince Maikpobi Okareme told Vanguard that the dissolution of the board of the NigerDelta Development Commission, NDDC, was a right decision.

HRM Ayemi Botu said President Jonathan acted on the recommendation of the committee that was set up by the Federal Government  to probe mismanagement in the commission, saying, the case of NDDC is like that of a finger that contacted oil and stained the other fingers.

The Chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political parties, CNPP, in Cross River State, Hon. Cletus Obun equally welcomed the dissolution of the board and advised President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that members of the board that were involved in corrupt practices did not go with their booty.

Founding Director of Ijaw Council for Human Rights (ICHR), Comrade Patterson Ogon on his part said the dissolution was long overdue.

Ogon who had a brief stint at the commission said with the high level intrigues that characterized the operations of the board there was no way the commission could have delivered on its mandate of bringing the much desired development to the Niger Delta.

His words, “the decision by Mr. President is commendable. However, further steps should be taken to deepen the process of cleansing as the current public perception of the NDDC is very depressing.”

The Rivers State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN equally lauded the decision.
The publicity secretary of the party in the state Jerry Needam in a statement  said the party praised “the courage of the president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan in taking the decisive step which was in line with recommendations of the special panel set up to investigate the commission.

ACN wants the presidency to fully probe and mete out stiff penalties to all who may have involved themselves in shady and dishonest transactions within and on behalf of the commission”.

Former Speaker of Delta House of Assembly and presently  member representing Ndokwa/Ukwuani federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Chief Olisa Imegwu also welcoming the dissolution said:

“It is a welcome development as Nigerians are increasingly beginning to feel that President  Jonathan is weak and coming to the unfortunate conclusion that not much would be achieved under his leadership. The next issue for the President is whether he would be courageous enough to appoint credible Nigerians to replace the sacked one without towing to political pressure.”