The Contractors Association of NDDC (CANDDC) has aligned with other authentic stakeholders in the Niger Delta Region to query the relevance of the ongoing five-day, 5th meeting of the National Council of Niger Delta (NCND), organized by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and NDDC which began in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital on Monday, September 12, 2022.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital by the Chairman of CANDDC, Joe Adia, the group condemned the continued illegality of administering NDDC with a sole administrator contraption in flagrant violation of the law setting up NDDC, the NDDC Act.
CANDDC therefore urged the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umana Okon Umana, “to ensure that the already screened board that this administration put on hold be inaugurated for peace to reign in the Niger Delta Region.”
Niger Delta authentic stakeholders have consistently demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari should comply with the law setting up NDDC and inaugurate the substantive board to manage the Commission for the benefit of the people of the nine Niger Delta states.
The President had made commitments to end the illegal Interim Management / sole administratorship at the NDDC and inaugurate the Board of the Commission upon receipt of the forensic audit, in compliance with the law, and which commitment he made to the nation on June 24, 2021 when he received the leadership of Ijaw National Congress (INC) in Aso Rock, Abuja.
Also, on July 28, 2022, while declaring open a retreat for management of the ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and NDDC at the state house banquet hall, Presidential villa, Aso Rock, Abuja, President Buhari restated his commitment to inaugurate the NDDC Board.
When he received the leadership of Ijaw National Congress (INC) in Aso Rock, Abuja, on June 24, 2021, President Buhari made a commitment to the nation. The President said: ‘‘Based on the mismanagement that had previously bedeviled the NDDC, a forensic audit was set up and the result is expected by the end of July, 2021. I want to assure you that as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted, the NDDC Board will be inaugurated.” The Forensic audit report has been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari since one year ago, on September 2, 2021. Regrettably, the NDDC which is the foremost Niger Delta regional development agency and which was set up to right the wrongs in the Niger Delta is still being run by a sole administrator appointed in breach of the NDDC Act.
Joe Adia regretted however that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs had earlier on July 28 and 29 organised a retreat for staff of the Ministry and NDDC at the state house banquet hall, Presidential villa, Aso Rock, Abuja, but that till date the promise made to inaugurate the NDDC Board has been intentionally ignored. According to him, “months have been rolling by but contractors are not paid, only fake promises, and the NDDC Board is not yet inaugurated. Today 12th of September another five days of retreat has commenced in Akwa Ibom, more monies are being spent on private jets and more irrelevancies but contractors payments are not even considered.”
According to the Contractors Association, “NDDC is almost shut down now. It is presently being run via a laptop carried by Effiong Akwa who makes payments remotely from his laptop to privileged contractors.”
The group also queried the rationale behind the retention of the illegal sole administrator in flagrant violation of the law and “inspite of the protests all over the region.”
Joe Adia also recalled that in March 2022, the Federal High Court sitting in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State ruled that the abandonment of the NDDC Act in the appointment of its management and usurpation of the rights of stakeholders in the NDDC by the decision to appoint Interim committees / sole administrators for the agency are both illegal and must be redressed. The court granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government from further constituting Interim Management/Sole Administrators to run the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The federal government is yet to comply with this order of the High Court.
CANNDC wondered if the Federal Government “does not care about the worries and agitations of the citizens.”
According to the group, “with the level of insensitivity of this APC administration, how do they really plan to campaign in the Niger Delta Region?”
Already, the National President of Ijaw Media Monitoring Group (IMMG), Elder Asu Beks has raised alarm that the people of the Niger Delta region will not allow the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to campaign in the region, when campaign kicks off on September 28, if the substantive Board of NDDC is not inaugurated before then.
According to the Ijaw leader, if the board of NDDC is not inaugurated before the commencement of electioneering, “we will stone any campaign train of that ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that is coming to the Niger Delta. So, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the party, should arrange a meeting with the Minister of Petroleum and other Niger Delta stakeholders to dialogue with President Muhammadu Buhari and make sure that this issue is resolved immediately, otherwise, we will stone any campaign train coming to the Niger Delta region.”
Earlier, another group, “Committed members of the APC from the Niger Delta Region,” in a letter to President Buhari and the APC National leadership, had raised alarm on the looming consequences of the ruling party’s ill-treatment of the region, especially what it described as the “ongoing illegality in NDDC,” and cautioned that “as it stands, the APC cannot win an election in the region except these missteps are remedied.”
Also, another group, The Niger Delta Rescue Movement (NDRM) has already vowed not to back the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections following the delay to inaugurate a substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The spokesman of NRDM, Jonathan Okwa, speaking in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, stated that following the prolonged delay of President Buhari to give the Niger Delta people what is rightfully theirs, in accordance with the law, the NDDC Act, the group would ensure the mobilisation of the people of Niger Delta region to vote against the APC in the 2023 presidential and general elections if the board is not inaugurated.
CANDDC therefore urged the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to make the expected difference and ensure the inauguration of the board.”
Niger Deltans are also accusing the Buhari Administration of discrimination and double standards. They point out that whereas the North East Development Commission (NEDC) has been allowed to function with its duly inaugurated Board in place (since May 2019) in line with its NEDC Act thereby guaranteeing proper corporate governance, accountability, checks and balances and fair representation of its constituent states, the NDDC on the other hand has been run arbitrarily in the last three years by Interim committees/sole administrator in breach of the NDDC Act. To the detriment of the entire Niger Delta region, these illegal interim contraptions have been used to fleece the NDDC of its funds in the last three years.
There are persistent calls on President Buhari to kindly heed the call of Niger Delta leaders, governors, youths, women, traditional rulers, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders, comply with the law setting up NDDC, and also fulfill his own promise of June 24, 2021, and inaugurate the board of the Commission to ensure accountability, checks and balances, probity and equitable representation of the nine constituent states.