Joe Effiong, Uyo
The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has described the alleged financial improprieties in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as disturbing and embarrassing.
The Forum has thrown its support behind the leadership of the National Assembly for their decision to investigate the public funds said to have been expended within three months, without due process, by the management of the Commission.
In a press release signed by PANDEF National Chairman and former military governor of Akwa Ibom State, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (retd), and made available to Daily Sun on Thursday, the Forum said the probes would help determine the validity or otherwise of the allegations and save the people of the region from the anguish of the ignominy.
“We further commend the spirit of patriotism demonstrated by the South-South caucus in both chambers, particularly Senator Thompson George Sekibo of Rivers State and Honourable Peter Akpatason of Edo State for sponsoring and supporting the motions that called for the investigation in the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively,” the statement reads.
The Forum recalled throwing its support behind the forensic audit of the NDDC ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari last year, informed by appalling state of infrastructure in the region and the Commission’s continued failure to fast-track the region’s development.
According to them, the NDDC has been characterised by its non-performance, poor management, misapplication and misappropriation of resources, and the reckless perversion of its set objectives, while the region is littered with abandoned projects.
“We had, therefore, hoped that the forensic audit would expose and bring to book those behind the cacodemon of corruption in the NDDC. And that it would instill financial propriety in the management of the Commission, correct the years of underperformance, and subsequently reposition the interventionist agency for better service delivery to the region. But it now appears our hopes were misplaced.
“We further recall that when some persons in the region who were opposed to the setting up of the IMC and jettisoning of the Board, which they considered an aberration of the NDDC Act, threatened violent protestations, PANDEF intervened and appealed for support for the IMC to carry out its assignment
“However, it is increasingly becoming difficult not to doubt if the process had not been hijacked by desperate politicians for selfish purposes. The Commission has been snared in a web of intrigues and counter intrigues since last year,” PANDEF said.
The regional forum regretted that it is the people of the region who suffer the bane of continued failure of the Commission to deliver on its mandate.
“PANDEF, therefore, implores the committees of both the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives saddled with the task to rise above board and write their names in gold by conducting a thorough investigation, without fear or favor. They should be mindful of persons with vested interests that may attempt to frustrate or compromise the investigation,” the Forum stated.