Editorial

Forensic Audit: Urgent need for repositioning of NDDC

 

After many years of running the interventionist agency and the
persistent criticisms of the operations of the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC), President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a forensic audit
of the operations of the organisation from its creations in 2001 to
date
Receiving governors of the states that make up the Commission led by
Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State last week in Abuja,
President Buhari lamented that what is presently on ground in the
Delta region does not justify the huge resources that have been made
available to the organisation.
Buhari said: “I try to follow the Act setting up these institutions
especially the NDDC. With the amount of money that the Federal
Government has religiously allocated to the NDDC, we will like to see
the results on the ground; those that are responsible for that have to
explain certain issues.
“The projects said to have been done must be verifiable. You just
cannot say you spent so much billions and when the place is visited,
one cannot see the structures that have been put in place. The
consultants must also prove that they are competent”, the President
said.
President Buhari admitted that developing the Niger Delta area
required enormous resources compared to other parts of the country
with firmer lands.
“I am acutely aware, with my experience, that projects in your area
are very expensive; that is why if any job is given, we must make sure
that the company is competent and has the capacity to do it well with
experienced consultants,” the President added. He however said that he
would wait for the report of the audit before deciding on the next
line of action regarding the organisation. So far nearly N1 trillion
has been allocate to the Commission since inception.
To be fair, it will be hard to find anyone who will not support this
move by the President. So much money has been put into the agency, yet
very little is known with it.
Take for example their own headquarter’s project the 10-storey edifice
is yet to be completed more than a decade it was conceived. Meanwhile,
NDDC prefers to pay rent of N200million every year. What kind of
management is that?
Many people see the organisation as habouring slush funds for easy
pickings by politician. Projects are not just poorly executed they are
criminally inflated. Employment racketeering is rampant. NDDC is
always employing for no reason.
Then of course there are hundreds of abandoned projects and debts
littering the whole nine states for not much work done. NDDC appears
to be a scam.
If you add the ministry of Niger delta and the amnesty programme, then
the Niger Deltans should look themselves in the mirror. There’s also
the 13 percent derivation added to their Federal allocation. This
audit is most welcome.
Governor Dickson had earlier expressed the disappointment of other
governors with the operations of the NDDC, which they said was
characterised by poor choice of projects, shoddy handling, uncompleted
jobs and lack of the required support for the efforts of the states
and local government administration in the region covered by the
organisation.
He, therefore, called for the repositioning of the NDDC in order to
achieve the objectives for which it was set up. We support both the
governors and Mr. President. It is important we know where the
problems lie. While we don’t have enough money, the little we have
should not be frittered away on political privileges.
We hope the audit will present an opportunity to holistically retool
the organisation. Politicians’ influence may need to be restricted.
Using the Ogoni clean up project as an example, we suggest a governing
system of that nature for NDDC.
The National Assembly has its role in this. The stark reality of the
projects in the Delta is also an indictment on the assembly. This
shows how inept their oversight which is a major function of the
legislature is. You cannot be over sighting an agency yet have this
kind of hopelessness.
The Governors too have nominees in the agency. They send their cronies
to be employed in the commission. They see the bad projects they
execute yet failed to speak up. Covering ordinary soil with asphalt is
criminal. This is an area that is close to the sea with wetlands,
marshlands and simply difficult terrain.
NDDC was set up to help the people yet it is the overindulged
politicians that have covered the purse of the place. We hope that the
audit will be quick and there will be penalties. Where people did no
job and got paid, let the monies be retrieved from them. The people
have suffered for too long; this is the time for recompense.

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