BY GOODLUCK EDAFE

NOT too long ago, the issue of a bogus federal executive council was at the front burner nationwide. In the eyes of Nigerians, a nation weighs down by a lack of quality and durable roads, epileptic power supply, unreliable medical system, to mention a few, should have no reason constituting a bogus federal executive council that would become a drain on the lean national wealth. Nigerians were unanimous and passionate in their voices, describing it as insensitive for a government that habitually borrows billions in Dollars in the name of development, to carry the burden of maintaining unproductive ministries, grandiose and showy lifestyle of political appointees which runs into billions of naira monthly. They felt bittered about a bogus executive council and urged President Bola Tinubu to prune down his executive council – reduce the number of ministers to at the most thirty-six. It was an act of patriotism tended to save funds for investments into key national assets that could transpose the country’s public image. Interestingly, President Tinubu responded with a dismantling of a few moribund and non-viable ministries like the Ministry of Niger Delta and humanitarian affairs.

Now, the issue is: can the same bogus executive council that Nigerians rejected at the federal level as a waste, become a blessing at the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC? For donkey years now, the NDDC has carried the burden of a bogus management board that is apparently political, unproductive and materially wasteful. Since year 2000, the NDDC management board has been a gathering of strange bedfellows. It’s a-twenty member management board broken down into five executive positions, which are: Chairman; Managing Director/CEO; Executive Director Finance and Administration EDFA; Executive Director Project EDP and Executive Director Corporate Services EDCS. Apart from the executive positions, there are other fifteen non-executive and inactive members. These are states representatives, one each from the nine states of the Niger Delta – Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers. Others include one representative each from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Environment, Oil Companies, North Central, North East and North West. Now, the question is: What purpose does this bogus management board designed to achieve at the NDDC? What is the justification for having a representative from the ministry of Finance and Environment, North Central, North East and North West at the NDDC board? Will allocation not be given to the NDDC without these people? The NDDC has offices and workforce in each of the states, who ordinarily should collate the needs of their states for onward approval at the headquarters in Port Harcourt. Thus, it merely counts for a duplication of effort and waste of resources to again have political appointees from the states.

The NDDC is a child of necessity. And it was created to fill the development lacuna in the Niger Delta, especially as both the federal and state governments have failed the region even after receiving trillions of Dollars from oil exploration. A true development in the Niger Delta needs money. It needs money to build social and legacy infrastructures. To that extent, the idea of carrying a bogus management board, which comes with a heavy monthly recurrent expenditure, internal wrangling and infighting and all kinds of administrative bottlenecks, does not support the founding objective of the NDDC. The NDDC Mission Statement reads, “To facilitate the rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful”. This is a tall dream. It’s a dream that requires a mixture of money, thoughtful and proactive management board with a sense of accurate investments. The NDDC for sure, was not intended to be a compensatory agency for the settlement of political party boys but strictly to support the material development of the Niger Delta – through the building of critical infrastructures and engagement in laudable investments that touches the soul of the people. Success in this regard does not require an entire community kind of management board structure but a slim one with a defined set of goals. In the last few months, several organizations and individuals within and outside the Niger Delta, including President Tinubu have commended the NDDC incumbent Managing Director/CEO, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku for his good works and cerebral achievements, especially for his light-up the Niger Delta streets light project that has turned many vulnerable communities into night market squares. The Ogbuku’s sagacity and desire to reposition the NDDC, in my view, has nothing to do with the NDDC bogus management board. I said so because we have had in the NDDC multiple management boards whose size did not translate into the execution of laudable projects. Sadly, it’s a board that merely meets once in a month and with a poor history of attendance. One NDDC internal source said, “What do they do? They just come and take money”

The writer’s contention is plain. An NDDC bogus management board is a waste of development fund. From inception, the NDDC management board has no record of outstanding achievements or value addition more than the usual unnecessary board politics, internal bickering and needless bureaucracy that unintentionally slow down service delivery. A politically-oriented management board whose members eventually turned into contractors, allowances and Christmas bonus agitators is not one that can deliver on the NDDC’s Mission Statement. The NDDC has a mandate, which does not include becoming a fertile ground for puerile politics. A genuine development effort in the Niger Delta would require an enabling set of laws, effective and efficient management structure mixed with the right operational philosophies. I call on the national assembly to amend the NDDC Act, prune down its bogus management board to a reasonable size to promote operational efficiency and increased service delivery in the region.

Edafe wrote from Port Harcourt.