By Damian Chukwukelu

The reaction of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the allegations of fraud leveled against it by some Niger Delta groups in the last few weeks is the clearest indication that the committee, which several lawyers and stakeholders in the region have labeled illegal on account of the fact that it is not provided for in the Act governing the Commission, raises more questions.

Indeed, Niger Delta stakeholders have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack both the minister and his IMC and constitute the Governing Board for the Commission because the arguments that were used to sell the IMC have proven to be fraudulent. I cannot agree less.

The allegations of fraud made by Niger Delta groups including the Niger Delta Ijaw Development and Response Assembly (NDIDRA) have exposed the raw underbelly of the current NDDC interim management and the unsustainable lies that the Commission was undergoing a reform.

Rather than address alleged illegal payments, the IMC in its response was specious and vague, resorting to sentiments. The people of the Niger Delta will not be hoodwinked by such sentiments.

Emergency contracts are unbudgeted for and, while they are useful in times of emergencies, they are opaque and often abused. In fact, they are clearly advised against by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

Does government make full payment of a contract that is yet to be completed?  Since 2016 under the leadership of Nsima Ekere as the Managing Director, the Commission has been awash with contracts for clearing Water Hyacinths, Emergency Projects and River De-silting.

Like NDIDRA noted, “The NDDC spokesperson was silent on Emergency contracts in his response to our publication. 80% of recent payments were for Emergency Jobs, one of the three ways the Commission is defrauded. The other two are Water Hyacinth and River De-silting. 20% of recent payments made by the present IMC cover this two fraud infested areas.”

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Rather than answer the allegations, the IMC through the spokesman simply said, rather offhandedly, that: “The attacks are obviously targeted at Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, who is driving the forensic audit ordered on the Commission by President Muhammadu Buhari.” Meanwhile, no forensic audit has been done six months after the appointment of the IMC.

The response by Rodnab Construction to the allegations has been less than satisfactory. While the company claims that it has done no wrong, the fact that it has been paid its full contract value when the job is not yet done raises eyebrows.

From reliable sources, the project is currently about 70% complete.

When Akpabio sold the idea of the IMC and defended it in the early days, he gave the impression that the only job the IMC would do is stay in place for the period of the audit, while the NDDC was being reorganized to make it more result-oriented, but it has unfolded as a scam.

Today, the IMC has usurped the role of the Governing Board and is presiding over an annual budget running into billions.

This is a travesty by a team that was not properly appointed having not gone through the formal requirements of screening by the Senate. In effect, a committee that is responsible to only one man is presiding over the patrimony of the region without regard for due process and without the responsibility to oversight checks. In October 2019 when he announced the IMC, Akpabio said it would last six months but since then it has become an endless jamboree.

Niger Delta stakeholders cannot take this any longer and Nigerians expect the president to take immediate action to restore order to the NDDC by calling Akpabio to order.

We insist that the way forward is to inaugurate the Governing Board for the Commission with a clear mandate on reforming the agency and delivering on the goals of the agency, after all the constituted authority over entities are not displaced when audits are to be carried out. The forensic audit can only happen under an independent Board.

This is what Niger Delta stakeholders warned against when Akpabio was handed the ministry by the president and when he went ahead to insist on the forensic audit being supervised by his handpicked committee. President Buhari cannot afford to be aloof when the buck stops on his desk.

Chukwukelu wrote in from Port Harcourt, Rivers State

Vanguard