NDDC: Theater of the absurd

When President Muhammadu Buhari ordered for a forensic audit of the accounts of the Niger Delta Development Commission, several Nigerians rightly thought that it was an idea which time was long overdue considering the absence of genuine development in the zone. The magnitude of what Nigerians expected perhaps is half of what we may have read or heard. Believe me, there is more to it than we currently have known.

Senator Akpabio and Nunieh: What went wrong?

From the version of what the suspended Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Interim Management Committee, Joy Nunieh, revealed even to the slap given to the Minister of Niger Delta, Goodwill Akpabio, for sexually harassing her; there is more to it than meets the eye. Akpabio and Nunieh had appeared before the senate ad hoc panel investigating the alleged mismanagement of N40 billion by the interim management committee (IMC) of the NDDC.

They both appear to me belligerent and intolerant, yet what has happened may well have opened the eyes of many Nigerians to understand the amount of deception we have faced from the political class. But beyond what Nunieh revealed, if there is any iota of truth in all that she told the world; Nigerians know that we are in problem.

Nigerians know that the journey for the actualization of the dreams of the people of the Niger Delta has been tortuous. It is no longer news that from Isaac Adaka Boro to what is current on ground; a number of people have put their lives for it. We know that ‘from NDDC, to the Ministry of Niger Delta to the Amnesty program, to the 13 percent derivation and to several other intervention programmes in the oil rich region, Niger Delta leaders continue to literarily steal all the money meant for the development of Niger Delta and turn around to blame others for the lack of development in the Niger Delta.

‘Leaders of the region have made stealing of development funds their past time over the years, while they continue to play the victim card going cap in hand looking for sympathy. The current brouhaha between Akpabio and Nunieh is a reflection of this sad reality and the salient issues of stealing public funds are again been pushed to the back burner leaving us to dwell on the inanities therein. We are now hearing about certificates and sexual harassment as though that was why more than N50billion was spent on clearing water hyacinths for instance.

‘Those two adults are old enough to deal with their personal issues and they can do that without distracting our attention from the fact that the places they superintend are pools of unconscionable stealing and  they need to give us account of their stewardship. As bad as it is, some persons will still come out and argue that, other people from other regions are the reason for the stealing. It is that bad’

It does appear there are more things to be heard from the auditing than Nigerians currently have been told. The auditing will no doubt unearth humongous details of sleaze perpetrated by Nigerians who have superintended over the affairs of the Commission. For long have we been told that region lacks all indices of genuine development, to the effect that aspersion has been cast on certain persons, organizations and the system.

Be that as it may, Nigerians know where we lost it. They know that our underdevelopment stems principally from certain unpopular actions of the leaders and of the led. For a minister to have descended to the level of revealing the secrets of the dark amounts to betraying the allegiance he swore to Nigeria.

Some Nigerians have accused Joy Nnunieh of perpetrating similar atrocities credited to the name of Akpabio. She was the head of NDDC from October 2019 to just February 2020. She is reported not to have made available her NYSC certificate during the period that she was screened by the Senate. Up till the time that she left the Commission, no one is aware of her status as a graduate of any university

Supposing she is right and had kept mute, Nigerians and the world may have appreciated the fact that given an opportunity the tills will suffer. That being the case, it is an open fact that we have become a nation where those waiting to steal from government or even organizations are higher than who we have presently that are said to be stealing.

Only Kemi Adeosun, then Minister of Finance among those we have record of, accused of not tendering her NYSC certificate; she resigned without a second thought. How many would do that in Nigeria today? We may have but there is none willing to come up to the podium as an example. Rather, they are willing to conscript their town’s men and women, both young and the old to support him or her for being a ‘thief’. We have had several Nigerians, who desirous of keeping their positions would hire other people to protest in their support so as to maintain same. 

Everything could justify why she slapped the minister, otherwise why the former NDDC MD would be requested by Akpabio to always meet him either at his guest house in Apo or in the hotel if it is actually true that she was being sexually harassed.

The details about the relationship between Akpabio and Nunieh are as dirty as they are lurid to the sane mind. They do not provide for any follower any example to copy and live with. Therefore, something is definitely that the Presidency cannot just sit and watch as things deteriorate. That the President has asked that the investigations be expedited

In a reaction that may appear to be late in coming for his defense, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said the allegations of the missing N40billion which is the bone of contention between the two said “Money could have been missing in those days when they had over 300 bank accounts, but now, because of the Treasury Single Account, the NDDC now has only one account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria. So, no money can be taken out just like that. We’re very determined to reposition the NDDC. The root of the problem has been years of corruption, endemic corruption.

“For 19 years, you can’t point at one project of the NDDC in the region, but you could point at cars and limousines of those who managed the place. The Federal Executive Council has approved the forensic audit and they have since started work. The forensic audit is not a witch-hunt. The right things have to be done if our communities must benefit from certain interventions not the pockets of government officials put in charge.

“They were doing things that would put things in people’s pockets. I’m not interested in that. Now, I’ll like to see completion of the East-West Road; at least, two sections have been completed. I’ll like to see an end to amnesty, see a place where there would be jobs for our people. I’ll like to see Niger Delta rice sold in Lagos, and also see an NDDC specialist hospital where major health problems can be solved.”

I agree with Agboeli Arinze when he wrote that: ‘Nigerians need to be reminded that the genesis of the matter we are told began sometime in May, when the National Assembly summoned the Minister and the IMC over what it deemed as corrupt activities in the commission.

‘However, the IMC not wanting to be browbeaten by the salvos of the National Assembly in turn accused both committees of the legislative body responsible for the oversight of the NDDC of working against it for certain pecuniary interests. It also accused the committees of wanting to frustrate the forensic audit of the NDDC as mandated by President Muhammadu Buhari.

‘Of a truth, these allegations and counter allegations point to one thing alone and that is the fact that the NDDC which is supposed to mitigate the sufferings of the people of the Niger Delta, who for years have been exploited is serving the interests of a few people at the detriment of the people of the Niger Delta.

‘So while millions of people in the Niger Delta suffer from the untold hardship of destroyed eco systems as a result of oil exploration, a few men, whom I will describe as “accidents of history”, smile to the banks on the heavy tears of those whose hopes have long been forlorn. Sadly at the end of it all, the forensic audit of the NDDC is most likely to suffer while the people continue to get so so little of the trillions sunk for their welfare in the commission”.

Nigerians are anxious to get to the end of the debacle. What comes out at the end will determine lots of things about the war against corruption. That it is succeeding is as a result of our attitude to let things take the course they have been treated and allowed to grow. This may not be one of those.