WORDS almost failed me last week, and I guess the same happened to  millions of Nigerians  at home and in Diaspora. After reading the level of financial malfeasance oozing forth from the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC), you can’t but be shocked and perhaps in cold anger. Watching top of officials of the commission during  a recent legislative  public hearing,  how they made a spectacle out of themselves with the money meant to develop the region and its people, adds to the string of embarrassing scenes we have witnessed in recent weeks. 

For many though, the scandal in NDDC is not surprising. Year after year, the agency has been embroiled in stupendous financial recklessness.  But this one is mind-boggling by every account . What a country. It’s troubling, heartbreaking, deeply irresponsible. It’s  terrifying at the wanton recklessness of how people entrusted with public funds for public good,  have brought shame to themselves and cast a huge blanket of suspicion and sincerity of the Buhari presidency to fight official corruption in Nigeria.

Truth is, every passing day, our country sinks deeper into the cesspool of graft. Things that have become shameful and unedifying to talk about in other climes, have become a passe’ for us. No remorse. It stings. What’s unraveling in the NDDC, the investigation, the confessions of some top officials, clearly shows that, indeed, corruption is a dragon fire. The giver may be as guilty as the receiver. But will they be punished to serve as a deterrent? All the drama we  witnessed in the past week  raises one vital question : Is corruption in our DNA or the result of our environment that seems to manifest these evil and wicked tendencies? If not, how come, according to the report of  Senate Committee on NDDC that the management of the agency claimed it spent a hefty N1.96 billion on Lassa fever kits?  N1.12 billion on public communication, N1.49bn on Covid-19 palliatives by the Interim Management Committee, N85.7 million on overseas travel to the United Kingdom, N105.5 million on scholarship grants, even when the students on the scholarship payroll protested in the UK last week and said  they have not been paid for years and are now  stranded abroad, some squatting with friends and  doing menial jobs to survive. What about the N164 million reported to have been spent on trips to Italy by  union members? Every scrap of evidence reveals more shocking financial recklessness by the leadership of NDDC. How mindless can these officials be? No wonder tears and outrage are trailing the ongoing NDDC investigations . And the people of the Niger Delta are aghast.

No surprise that Nigeria remains on the top bracket of most corrupt nations in the world. For instance, Transparency International(TI) recently rated Nigeria as the fourth most corrupt country in West Africa, and as the 146th out of 180 countries in its 2019 corruption index. Nigeria has managed to score just 26 out of 100 points in the Corruption Perception Index in 2019. With the NDDC’s  astonishing revolving door of  financial mismanagement  and that of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), there’s a growing fear that Nigeria may lose its membership  of the powerful Financial Action Task Force(FATF), a global anti-graft watchdog.

The  story of NDDC, and what has become of it today, is one that troubles the mind. Established in 2000 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, it was in response to a growing and legitimate agitations over lack of socioeconomic development, incalculable environmental damage caused by oil prospecting and production in the region which had destroyed agricultural land and fishing due to constant incidents of oil pollution, gas flaring and other environmental hazards. Ogoniland is a sad reminder of this. As an interventionist agency, NDDC is supposed by the Act setting it up to deploy allocation from the Federation Account to tackle these ecological problems caused by exploration of crude oil and gas in the Niger Delta. My community in Oguta local government in Imo state, is one of the areas in the Niger Delta that has suffered as a result of ecological problems occasioned by oil exploration. Little done for the people.  Undoubtedly, NDDC has departed from this lofty mandate.

Unarguably, its officials have cornered the resources meant for the people. It’s a case of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’, or ‘monkey dey work and baboon dey chop. It hurts like pins on the lips. That’s the painful  story of NDDC today. In his own evidence before the House of Representatives Committee last week before he collapsed, the acting Managing Director Prof. Daniel Pondei admitted that N81.5bn was spent from October 2019 to May 31, 2020 by the Commission. He said that the Interim Management Committee which he heads spent N59.1bn between February and May this year, a period of four months, out of which N1.3bn was lavished on the IMC members as Covid-19 relief. Nemesis is catching up with  them.                                                                                                                           The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio has already backtracked on his  earlier assertions before the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee.

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He now says he didn’t accuse lawmakers of being NDDC contractors. That’s fudging facts. Will he be left off the hook?  Let’s wait and see. Akpabio should have known that those who do big things should be careful about stumbling on little things. Little things, are often what lead to a downfall. Besides,the Senate ad-hoc Committee,  set up to unravel the alleged financial misappropriation and chaired by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi has turned in its report. The  Committee said it also found the NDDC leadership guilty and has recommended for its sack, and a refund of N4.9bn reportedly  paid to contractors.

The Senate Committee also recommended that the NDDC be returned to the presidency as it was in its early years for a direct and proper supervision, just as it said  that the monitoring and advisory bodies recognised by the Act which established the agency should be inaugurated immediately. It also lamented the extra-budgetary spending by the IMC which it noted was affecting the people of Niger Delta. It is clear, the Committee further stated, that the Ministry of Niger Delta as it stands today, has no capacity to implement the forensic audit already set up.

Therefore, the committee says the preferred option should be for the Auditor General of the Federation to supervise the forensic audit which the IMC has voted a whooping N2bn.The names of the forensic auditors are not known, but those close to the the commission insist that no reputable auditing/accounting firm in the country is on the list. The choice of the Auditor General of the Federation to appoint internationally renowned audit experts is to ensure transparency and efficiency.  All of these recommendations are for President Buhari to implement or reject,  or even add his own as he deems necessary.

Whatever decisions the President takes will be so important. It will go a long way to determine how serious his administration is in its fight against official corruption in public institutions and against  public officials. More than anything else, it will help safeguard against worst possible financial malfeasance in future. One is inclined to believe that the President knows, and needs no reminding that the world is watching him, how truly he’s committed to fighting this monster of official corruption.

The NDDC investigation  has provided that opportunity whether his administration is better than his predecessors in respect of theft of public funds. The President recently assured of his administration’s effort to bring sanity and accountability to the management of the resources of the Niger Delta.

But beyond the NDDC crisis, financial scandal is currently rocking the newly-established North East Development Commission. N100bn  is alleged to be involved. Similar mismanagement has been uncovered at the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund(NSITF), where few officials of the agency are alleged to have shared N48bn, and awarded over N4.4bn contract in one day. The Minister of Labour and Employment Dr Chris Ngige whose Ministry supervises the NSITF has come under attack from the officials who have been suspended.