From Joe Effiong, Uyo
Civil Society Organizations (CSO) have challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to publish without further delay the report of the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) if he is not encouraging corruption in the country.
The Chairman of CSO in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Harry Udoh, who said this on Monday while addressing a press conference to make this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day in Uyo, with the theme; “Your Right, Your Role, Say No to Corruption” said by sitting on the much talked about forensic report, which was seen as an elixir to exposing the large scale corruption ravaging the commission, Buhari is directly encouraging the pillage of the assumed interventionist agency.
“Taking action would forestall further plundering of the agency. Surprisingly, the president has not said anything since the report was submitted to the attorney general and minister of justice. At the moment, the current management is watching. If nothing happens, they too would steal their own knowing full well that nothing would happen to them.” Udoh said.
X-raying the activities of the commission especially in Akwa Ibom State, the CBO chieftain said over 65 per cent of contracts awarded by Niger Delta Development Commission in Akwa Ibom State in the last five years were both fake and non-existent even as the commission, has in the past 20 years wasted more than N6 trillion of the region’s patrimony on the altar of corruption.
He said some of the non-existent projects in Akwa Ibom include fake water projects in Okosi community, Okobo LGA, non-existent perimeter fencing at Model school in Ikot Oboroenyin village in Ikot Abasi LGA and another road project in Urue Offong Oruko local government area of the state.
Udoh disclosed that the fake projects were discovered when the CSO decided to track down the commission’s projects in the 2019 budget.
He said it was a shocking revelation at Okosi community where the NDDC claimed that it has completed a water project for the people but the people were found grappling with perennial water problems as they returned from the village stream.
“We are just coming from an independent tracking of 2019 approved budgeted projects and programs of the Commission in Akwa Ibom State. It may interest you to note that of the 31 projects captured in the 2019 approved budget and tracked by us, about 65% of them are non-existent.
“They could not be located. Community members were not aware of such projects in their communities. And were actually shocked to learn that there was an approved project by NDDC for their Communities.
“Of the projects actually implemented, over 85% of them were shoddy jobs. We saw asphalt coating that was less than an inch and there were several failed portions already.
“In instances, the project description as captured in the 2019 budget was different from what we saw on the ground. For instance, in Ikot Oborenyen in Ikot Abasi, the projection description in the budget read perimeter fencing of a model primary school but what we found was a drain constructed around an open space with no building whatsoever on it and with no sign that construction work is about to begin.”
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“Again, a huge amount of critical funds has been spent with not much to show for it. How long would we continue to allow the colossal wastage? Let’s stop the corruption in NDDC now.” He lamented.
He attributed Nigeria’s underdevelopment to massive corruption saying it “undermines economic development, threatens state security and undermines democratic values. The United Nations acknowledges the threat corruption poses to development and that is why Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was crafted to call on states to substantially reduce corruption in all its forms.”