On March 2, the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, took a swipe at the Niger Delta Development Commission, accusing it of being reckless with funds meant for development in the Niger Delta region.
Sagay, while speaking at the opening of a two-day national dialogue on corruption, organised by PACAC in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President, alleged that the NDDC “bought over 70 cars that included eight super Lexus that cost N70 million each and 10 Toyota Landcruiser jeeps at N65 million each.”
He said, “The cars were bought with money from funds meant for infrastructure, water, housing, hospitals, schools, without conscience and without a thought for the wretched people of the Niger Delta.
These huge sums were plundered from their allocations and yet the Managing Director was ironically complaining, as reported by the Nation newspaper of February 6, that the NDDC lacks funds to execute projects.
Corruption is believed to be the major factor that has hindered NDDC’s performance since its establishment in 2000. And this is responsible for the inability of the commission to attain its core mandate of ensuring a total, holistic and sustainable regional development
“The Managing Director also said that NDDC was in debt up to the tune of N1.2 trillion. What an irony! The recklessness with which public officers spend public funds is insensitive to the point of insanity. The level of insensitivity has become pathological.”
Swiftly reacting to Sagay’s allegation, NDDC spokesman, Chijioke Amu-Nnadi remarked, “The NDDC wishes to state, categorically, that no such purchases have been made since assumption of office on November 4, 2016, of the current governing board.
Indeed, it is a known fact that the Chairman, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, the Managing Director/CEO, Nsima Ekere, and the two Executive Directors, are still using their private vehicles three months after assumption of duties.
“The NDDC is only now in the process of acquiring work vehicles, and is adhering strictly to due process. These include five Toyota Prado jeeps, 10 Toyota Hilux trucks, four Toyota Landcruiser jeeps, one Toyota Coaster bus and two Toyota Hiace buses.
The Commission has just received the Due Process Compliance Certificate from the Bureau of Public Procurement, and is preparing the mandatory memo for the approval of the Federal Executive Council.”
Sagay, in his allegation against the NDDC, did not clearly state the period the said vehicles, worth over N1 billion were procured, neither did he disclose the management that made the order for their purchase.
However, a PACAC representative, Prof. Okon Eminue, in a statement responding to NDDC’s rebuttal maintained that Sagay was right in his claim, explaining that the legal luminary was not referring to the present NDDC leadership.
Eminue said, “The NDDC ought to confirm the claim by the Chairman of the PACAC, Prof. Sagay by seeking clarification on the administration under which the said vehicles were purchased. Prof Sagay is quite right.
The vehicles were bought by one of the past administrations of the NNDC. When the scam was first published with gory details, the immediate past MD of NDDC, Barr Dan Abia, was still in situ, and the vouchers and the entire scam were widely published online and in some Nigerian newspapers.
“To be sure, President Muhammadu Buhari had assumed office when the scam came to light. One would have thought that the EFCC and other antigraft agencies would wade into the allegations at that time.
Consequently, Prof. Sagay’s accusation or allegation does not say that the scam is perpetrated by the current leadership of the NDDC… To that extent Amu-Nnadi’s stout defence of the present NDDC board and management is quite proper and correct. But it is one of the past boards and managements of NDDC that Prof. Sagay actually alludes to.”
Truly, Sagay’s allegation of corruption against the NDDC cannot be said to be out of place. Corruption is believed to be the major factor that has hindered NDDC’s performance since it was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000. And this is responsible for the inability of the commission to attain its core mandate of ensuring a total, holistic and sustainable regional development.
Those who have been put in charge of the commission before now seemed to have only helped themselves with the funds meant for the advancement of the oil-rich zone, leaving the manifold problems confronting the region to remain unabated and the people in abject poverty and impoverishment.
The quest for a better and refocused NDDC that will have the interest of the people at heart and fundamentally address the daunting challenges facing the region was the reason the appointment of Ndoma-Egba and Ekere, former deputy governor of Akwa-Ibom State as Chairman and MD respectively of the interventionist body, was described by many as a welcome development.
The entire Niger Delta erupted in jubilation and the people of the region hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for making the right choices in Ndoma-Egba and Ekere. The new leadership of the NDDC is not oblivious of the fact that the agency has been a den of corruption, where nothing seemed to have worked well in the interest of the people.
The twosome have, however, left no one in doubt that they have the capacity to rebrand and reposition the commission for better performance with the various moves they have made since their inauguration in November last year.
Jegede, a media expert, writes from Abuja
