Intrigues, Power Play As Buhari Receives Fresh NDDC’s Nominees

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is at a critical crossroads at the moment. THEWILL can also confirm that the Commission responsible for taking care of the needs of the host communities in the nine states that make up the Niger Delta is currently fighting for its survival.

Multiple sources at the Port Harcourt headquarters of the NDDC told our correspondent that the ongoing politics and high-wired scheming at the Commission are not only threatening the corporate existence of the regional entity, but also frustrating the objectives for which the Commission was created.

THEWILL recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 instituted a forensic audit of the Commission’s operations from 2001 to 2019, a development that gave false hope to all the relevant stakeholders that light would come to the dark tunnel of the Commission’s decade-long unmitigated poor performance.

But authoritative sources at the Commission confided in THEWILL that hope is neither here nor there, saying that unless, “something drastic was done, “that wish would also be dashed on the altar of politics and the weird interests that have haunted the Commission since its inception in 2000.

The current move to appoint a new board for the Commission, following the dissolution of the Interim Board, is another major test for the organisation. Stakeholders believe that the “something drastic..” that needed to be done, according to an inside source, who craved anonymity, was to “set aside politics in the appointment of the board and administration. But then, that would go against the Act, which makes room for rotation among the nine member states that make up the Commission.”

But THEWILL investigation shows that the matter is not just about politics, which may be another way of operating the Federal Character Principle in the Constitution, which enjoins fair representation of staffing in Federal Government agencies and institutions, but the shady dealings, readiness to subvert the aims and objectives of the Commission and to feather the nest of politicians of all hue.

In the Beginning

Take for instance the intrigues that gave birth to the forensic auditing and its prolonged process before the youths and elders in the Niger Delta region had to issue ultimatums, first by the youths for 30 days, which expired in early June and then a seven-day ultimatum by elders and chiefs, which ended in July before the  Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, acceded to speed up the forensic auditing, submit the report to the President, as well as a list of nominees for the board to the Senate.

He said this much last week when he addressed State House Correspondents in Abuja after he met with the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari.

“We have fast-tracked the process of constituting the board, but we insist that the most important thing is not just the development of the Niger Delta region but how to reposition NDDC to ensure optimal performance as against the practice in the past.

“In terms of the composition of the board of the NDDC, we have fast-tracked the process and the National Assembly will soon get the list. But that is not as important as the forensic audit, which we have finally given a deadline. It will end in July,” Akpabio said.

However, before he came up with the forensic audit of the NDDC’s operations, President Buhari had submitted a list of nominees for the board to the Senate for screening and confirmation. That was on October 28, 2019.

According to Senate President Ahmed Lawan, who read the letter during a plenary session of the Senate, the NDDC’s Board nominees included the Chairman, Dr. Pius Odubu (Edo); Managing Director, Bernard O. Okumagba (Delta); Executive Director Projects, Engr. Otobong Ndem (Akwa Ibom); Executive Director Finance and Admin, Maxwell Okoh (Bayelsa); Delta State representative, Prophet Jones Erue; Chief Victor Ekhata (Edo); Dr. Joi Yimebe Nunieh (Rivers); and Nwogu Nwogu (Abia).

Others were Theodore A. Allison (Bayelsa); Victor Antai (Akwa Ibom); Maurice Effiwatt (Cross River); Olugbenga Elema (Ondo); Hon. Uchegbu Chidiebere Kyrian (Imo); Northwest Rep, Aisha Murtala Muhammed (Kano); Northeast Rep, Ardo Zubairu (Adamawa) and Southwest Rep, Engr. Badmus Mutalib (Lagos).

While the clearance process was going on, a new development sprung up and threw a spanner in the works.

Politics

Akpabio, Senate Deputy President, Ovie-Omo Agege, then National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomole and Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Silva were in a four-cornered horse race.

Omo-Agege chose Bernard Okumagba, who is also his kinsman from Delta State, as Managing Director, while Oshiomhole nominated Dr. Pius Odubu for Chairman. Odubu was Oshiomhole’s deputy when he was governor of Edo State. Sylvia nominated the Director of Finance and Administration, Maxwell Okoh from Bayelsa. Akpabio named the Director of projects, Engr. Otobong Ndem from Akwa Ibom.

Miffed at the development, which left him with a less ‘juicy appointee,’ Akpabio reportedly later approached Okumagba with a proposal. The minister allegedly told the him that he would appoint 10 special advisers into his office, a suggestion Okumagba turned down, arguing that the number was too high as it left no room for his own appointments.

Unsettled by this turn of events, the minister reportedly raced to some state governors in the region and sold the idea of a forensic audit to them. They fell for it and later agreed to it in a meeting with the President in Aso Rock in October 2019.

Interim Management Committee

In anticipation of possible backlash from stakeholders in the region who were already primed to expect the inauguration of a new Board, the minister constituted the IMC, led by two MDs in quick succession. It did not survive. First was the Mrs Joi Nuneh- led IMC which got embroiled in allegations of mismanagement and corruption with the minister and that of Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei, which also got involved in a scandalous allocation of COVID-19 allowances running into N1.12 billion, despite receiving salaries and another N51.6 million in allowances, revealed during ad-hoc House of Representatives Committee hearing Joint National Assembly Committee. The Pondei- led IMC was eventually sacked by the court which granted the suit of some stakeholders who demanded the scrapping of the IMC because it was unknown to the law setting up the Commission.

It was replaced by a sole administrator, which currently administers the Commission under Engr. Effiong Okon Akwa, following the court ruling that the next most senior officer should take over from the sacked Pondei-led IMC.

Akwa’s appointment has been plagued by protests, particularly by the Ijaw Youths Council, who issued a 30-day ultimatum on the inauguration of the Senate screening Board while the forensic auditing was still going on. It was after the expiration of their ultimatum in June this year and a follow-up demand by the militant, Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, that the minister agreed to speed up the audit with a promise to submit the report to the President in July and inaugurate the board.

Board Nominees

With the issues surrounding the forensic audit almost out of the way as the Minister has promised to submit the report to the president in July and the credibility of the Commission still at stake considering the poor performance of the IMC, the vexed issue of nominees for the Board has come up again.The Minister raised suspicion when he said he would submit a list to the Senate after he had submitted the forensic report to the president.

THEWILL checks revealed that an entirely new board with fresh names has been presented to the President by Akpabio for approval and onward transmission to the Senate for confirmation. According to our findings, the fresh executive board has its Chairman from Delta, Managing Director from Bayelsa, Executive Director of Projects from Rivers State while the Executive Director of Finance is a nominee from Akwa Ibom.

After Ijaw leaders met with President Buhari at the presidential villa last week and he promised them that he would only inaugurate the Board after receiving the forensic report, they were able to make their case. By law, Bayelsa, where the Ijaw leaders come from, ought to be the state to produce the next Managing Director of the Board.

No Hidden Agenda – Minister’s Aide

When contacted, Akpabio’s aide, Mr Jackson Udom, said it was wrong information to say that his principal sold the idea of forensic audit to the host governors of the Commission because he lost out in the nomination for the Board.

”What happened was that the governors demanded for a forensic audit of the account of the NDDC because they said so much money has been released to the Commission with nothing on the ground to show for it,” he said, adding,” I am aware that they met the President and demanded for it, so it has nothing to do with the Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio.”

On stakeholder’s criticism of Akpabio’s statement to submit a list Board nominees to the Senate, Udom said people should not jump into conclusion without facts.

“I would not know whether there is s fresh list. The list that I know is the former list, which everybody knows. They were cleared, yes. But whether he has replaced the names, I do not know.”

Attempts to speak to the spokesperson of the Senate, Dr Basiru Ajibola, failed. He refused to answer repeated calls to his phone

As promised by the President when he met with Ijaw leaders last week, every stakeholder would be waiting with bathed breath for the formal announcement of the names of members of the new board. Would that reset the template of the NDDC for the good of the region? Time will tell.

(THEWILL)