An oil and gas industry watchdog has called on the National Assembly to refrain from actions that would distract the IMC from completing the forensic audit as scheduled.
The organisation, Transparency in Petroleum Exploration and Development Initiative (TIPEDI), lamented that the current crisis of confidence between elected politicians, particularly from the Niger Delta area, and the NDDC would have negative effects, not only on the commission, but also “on the hapless people of the area who have suffered neglect for many years.”
TIPEDI’s national coordinator, Chief Nathan Egba, in a statement issued from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, yesterday, noted that “the accusations levelled against the National Assembly by the NDDC were serious but common knowledge because some federal legislators have perpetually milked the commission over the years.
“It is, therefore, not surprising that they are now engaged in a plot to derail the forensic audit exercise, which obviously will unearth their nefarious activities.”
He said some legislators deliberately orchestrated the present conflict between the Prof. Keme Pondei-led management and the National Assembly as a means of blackmailing the commission to bow to some illegal demands as well as derail the forensic audit but, “unfortunately, it backfired as the NDDC management courageously called their bluff.”
Egba, a former commissioner for information and orientation in Bayelsa State, said: “Over the years, succeeding managements of the NDDC have come under the same kind of pressure and blackmail, with several managements capitulating and allowing the legislators turn the commission into their glorified cash cow.
“In the process, a lot of funds meant for developing the Niger Delta area and improving the people’s lives have ended up in the pockets of a few individuals, to the detriment of the general population.
“It is necessary to state at this point that the legislators, as representatives of the people, should rather cooperate with the NDDC to address the reasons behind their relatively poor performance over the years, which has been attributed to the National Assembly’s slow and disruptive budget passing process.
“We in TIPEDI agree with the NDDC’s submission that, over the years, the National Assembly applies three clear steps by which it stifles the NDDC’s operations, namely, through replacing the commission’s budget proposals with the legislators’ own projects, delay in the passage of the budget till very late in the year, and, when the budget is finally passed, demands by legislators for upfront payments for their projects, most of which are usually left abandoned anyway.
“Therefore, for us, Mr. President has signalled his seriousness in pursuing the forensic audit process to its logical conclusion with the appointment of the current acting managing director, Prof. Keme Daniel Pondei, a totally non-political academician with the courage to confront this albatross in order to make life easier for future managements of the commission.”
The TIPEDI coordinator, however, called on Pondei, as someone with no political ambition or desire to perpetuate himself in office, to remain courageous and focused, to complete the assignment and justify Mr. President’s confidence in setting up the Interim Management Committee.