Ebitimi Johnson
“With the completion of this process (confirmation), I am sure that any other structure that exists (in the NDDC) is vitiated… because this is one thing that is clearly established by the law.” – Dr. Ahmed Lawan, President of the Senate
The above statement were part of the remarks by President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmed Lawan shortly after the Senate confirmed the 15-member Board of Directors of NDDC on November 4, 2019
He went on to add that, “There is no ambiguity in this matter. Mr. President sent his request for us to confirm the nominees.”
Many weeks after the Senate confirmation of the NDDC Board it is yet to assume duties at the Commission’s Head office in Port Harcourt, sadly to the detriment of the development of the Niger Delta Region.
Presently managed by a third consecutive interim Management Committee since February 2019, when President Buhari dissolved the Senator Ndom-Egba led Board, the NDDC has therefore operated for nearly one year without a substantive Board, and this does not bode well for a planned and sustainable development of the region.
The first interim management committee led by Professor Brambaifa operated from February to August 2019, after which it was dissolved. President Muhammadu Buhari announced the names of the new 16-man board members and directed the most senior director in the commission Dr. Enyia Akwagaga to act as Managing Director pending the Senate’s confirmation of President Buhari’s nominees.
Two months later, yet another ‘interim management committee’ was announced, to the consternation of Nigerians, by Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio, in the evening of October 29, five hours after the Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan read President Buhari’s letter containing the names of 16 persons nominated for the NDDC board.
The NDDC Board as confirmed by the Senate has broad representation in line with the law setting up the commission. The Senate’s confirmed board has the former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr. Pius Odubu, Chairman; Bernard Okumagba (Delta), Managing Director; Otobong Ndem (Akwa Ibom), Executive Director of Projects; Maxwell Oko (Bayelsa), Executive Director of Finance and Administration; Jones Erue (Delta); Victor Ekhator (Edo); Nwogu N Nwogu (Abia), Theodore Allison (Bayelsa), Victor Antai (Akwa Ibom); Maurice Effiwat (Cross River); Olugbenga Edema (Ondo); and Uchegbu Kyrian (Imo). The others are: Aisha Muhammed (North West); Shuaibu Zubairu (North East) and Abdullahu Bage (North Central). Stakeholders therefore continue to wonder why there should be another hand-picked interim committee that is neither backed by law nor representative of the people of the region.
As has been widely reported, the new NDDC board is believed to be broad, deep and satisfies the yearnings for experienced and focused leadership and constituted in line with the provisions of the NDDC Act. The President must act to straighten the affairs of the NDDC by inaugurating the senate-confirmed board for the commission. There should not be a return to the state of affairs where the NDDC is run by ad hoc committees, especially when the new board nominated by the president, screened and confirmed by the Senate is in place. The proper thing to do is inaugurate the board with clear performance goals for the benefit of the people of the Niger Delta.
But this also goes beyond politics. At the core is the desired economic development of the Niger Delta Region, which an ad-hoc or interim management cannot drive.
Globally, our ever-changing world is paying increased and unprecedented attention to issues of poverty and climate action, leading to the United Nations call to action on all nations to focus attention on sustainable development goals that will focus on areas as diverse as good health and wellbeing, zero hunger, quality education, clean water and sanitation, amongst others.
Specifically, the world is concerned about issues of climate action, peace and justice, affordable and clean energy, quality education, and decent work and economic growth.
In no part of the country do these issues pose a challenge for the country than the Niger Delta Region, the nation’s honey pot that lays the golden egg because the nation’s ability to overcome its challenges lies in its capacity to maximize its resources in the belly of the delta, failing which poverty, hunger, social tensions and intractable insecurity shall not abate.
Little wonder that there is unprecedented attention on the nineteen-year-old interventionist Agency, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) set-up to “formulate policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger Delta area”, which covers the nine states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers States.
The NDDC is too important to the development of the people of the Niger Delta, and the corporate entity of Nigeria, for it not to be taken seriously and consistently run in accordance with corporate governance principles as enshrined in Act No.6 of 2000 which set up the Commission.
It therefore came as a welcome relief, when after nearly one year of operation without a substantive Board and Management, President Muhammadu Buhari, in August announced the constitution of a 16-member Board of Directors and executive management to pilot the affairs of the Commission for the next four years as stipulated in Act No.6 of 2000 setting up the Commission.
The federal government which set-up the NDDC has done well to recognise the need for a properly constituted Board to pilot the affairs of the Commission, and which the Senate has duly confirmed.
President Buhari should now quickly put the new Board that he appointed in August in place since they have never been part of the NDDC in the past, to not only help supervise the audit, but more importantly drive a long-term development agenda for the Niger Delta. An interim committee cannot drive a long-term agenda because they do not have the mandate and governance structure to do so and so their continued stay in office imperils the growth of the Niger Delta region.
With regard to an impartial team to supervise the forensic audit as directed by President Buhari, the Minister of Niger Delta’s argument that the interim management committee has been put in place to supervise the forensic audit does not stand. It is a task the Senate-confirmed board should execute as part of its duties as provided for in the NDDC Act. Rather, we believe that it has become an excuse for the minister, and perhaps a few others in the shadows, to hijack the NDDC and continue the selfsame irresponsibility of management without accountability.
There are unceasing allegations that the Minister of Niger Delta is an interested party in the NDDC probe having nominated board members, including a chairman and managing director, Bassey Dan-Abia, while he was Governor of Akwa Ibom State between 2007 and 2015. Stakeholders also allege that the immediate past substantive managing director of NDDC, Nsima Ekere served as his deputy governor.
According to Dr. Elisha Jones, an Auditor who is currently a Research Fellow at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, given that the forensic audit is being conducted to examine NDDC’s financial records to derive evidence which can even be used in a court of law, and seeks to uncover incidents of corruption such as conflicts of interest, bribery, or corruption, the interim management of the Commission should be asked to step down immediately, while the new Board already approved by the Senate should assume duties and supervise the audit to ensure fairness and transparency.
The federal government can ill-afford distractions and restiveness in the Niger Delta Region. The N10.3 trillion, 2020 deficit Budget that has been laid before the National Assembly is predicated on very optimistic assumptions from oil revenue, which made the NNPC Managing Director to promise Nigerians that oil production shall rise to 3m barrels of crude oil daily by next year. But this can only happen in an environment where all the operators and Agencies, particularly NDDC can build mutual trust through strategic action and engagement.
It serves the best interest of the federal government to have in place a properly constituted Board and Management of NDDC, which has the peoples backing through Senate confirmation, and thereby accountable to the people of Nigeria and the region to supervise the forensic audit as directed by President Buhari and thereby proceed 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.”
Johnson is a Development Economist
