General Overseer of Royal House of Faith, Uyo, Pastor Bassey James is also President of Southern Youths Development Forum. The criminologist spoke with Sunday Oguntola on President Buhari’s probe order of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), opening of Eastern Ports and the Second Niger Bridge project. Excerpts:
As a major commentator on Niger Delta affairs, how do you feel about Mr. President’s audit probe of NDDC operations?
I say kudos to President Muhammadu Buhari and commend him. And 90% of Niger Delta people are with the President on this matter. The youths, elders and poor masses of the region, who have watched the monies given for the development of the Niger Delta region, being misused for things that don’t advance the course of the people continued to live in abject poverty and in pain are with him.
Over the years, NDDC has not done intervention projects as it should be done rather the monies are syphoned into private pockets. So the President’s order to probe NDDC is a plus for his administration, a plus for the Niger Delta people and a plus for the South South region.
We bear the brunt of NDDC mismanagement, in spite of the fact that we contribute immensely to the federal purse. If you go through Niger Delta states, local governments and the roads, you will hardly see any development as it relates to the amount of money released to the intervention agency, which runs into trillions.
We have watched this happen helplessly, hopelessly and it pains us because we are incapacitated. We don’t have the power to do anything. It is only the federal government that has the capacity to call for the probe.
The people of Niger Delta have cried out over the years and I think that our cries have reached God and God has touched Mr. President to do what is right and needful. Hopefully those who will come to run the affairs of the NDDC will be cautious and will know that the money does not belong to them or their cronies.
Mr President should go further to order that all the works done from 2001 till date be published so that the real beneficiaries will be known. You will discover that most of the jobs are given to non- indigenes of Niger Delta. They take the monies and abandoned the job because they are not from the region.
They are actually desensitised because they have nothing to lose; all they care is to take the money and abandoned the jobs. For me this is the right time for the probe. Every Niger person should celebrate and give Mr. President kudos. We see some people in Niger Delta becoming so rich and powerful rather than see the region making progress. Where are the projects?
Show me the roads done by the intervention agency. 90% 0f the projects given to non-indigenes are abandoned and nobody is saying anything. So we are behind Mr. President. We are praying for him. I want to tell the Niger Delta people to be rest assured that this is one issue that Mr. President will see to the end.
I am saying this because there are fears that the probe will be abandoned. But I am happy that the President ordered for an audited account.
How far do you want the probe to spread its dragnet?
Let the accounts be audited state by state, local government by local government and village by villages so that the people of Niger Delta will know what each of the local governments received.
I come from the oil producing community of Nkpat Enin. I cannot see what the NDDC has done in my community in the last 29 years. It did not finish any of its intervention projects.
For the first time in the history of NDDC, Mr. President has appointed an indigene of Nkpat Enin local government and people must know that NDDC is not meat pie that people go to eat and throw the pieces to the dogs.
The Niger Delta is owned by people and the money coming to NDDC should be for the people. I have been to NDDC and you see that there are 99% non- indigenes working there and taking our resources.
From the gate, one can feel the impact that this place has been hijacked for political gains, manipulation and for whatever reason.
You said some people have hijacked NDDC operations and converted the monies meant for intervention projects to personal gains. But over her years, indigenes of the Niger Delta have occupied the headship of NDDC how do you reconcile that?
The issue is not whether they are our brothers, sisters or relations. The issue is what have they used the money to do? How much money has come to the Niger Delta from 2001 till date?
If the money that is due to Akwa-Ibom is given to Akwa-Ibom for instance, or to any of the core oil- producing states of Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Delta and Bayelsa, you will see development.
There is insecurity, and absence of development in the Niger Delta. The creeks have been abandoned, everything is politics, the road network is bad, the water project is not and all you see are NDDC signboards everywhere; no jobs.
Even when the jobs are done, they are very poorly executed with substandard materials that cannot stand the test if time. Otherwise how can one explain that a road that is constructed gets spoilt within five months?
It is because the people that got the jobs are not indigenes of the Niger Delta. Let them tell us how many people from Niger Delta region benefited from the contracts and other things. Apart from giving appointments, we want to see other things itemised, showing for instance, what a local government contributed to national purse and what they have benefitted; whether a community has contributed enough to the country and what the community has benefitted.
If that is done, it will be seen that 90% of the jobs are done by non- indigenes. Our people are used to doing that whether it is out of fear or the way they get the appointments. Now the chicken has come home to roast, we are asking Mr. President to x-ray the Niger Delta and make sure that what was taken away from the people is returned. Let the money be used to develop the Niger Delta. If that is done Niger Delta state a will be like Dubai.
As Niger Delta indigenes, it takes months even years for you to be allowed to enter the gates of NDDC. Even when one eventually succeeds, one is told ‘you to go to the top and get a letter.’
Do you mean the top of NDDC or top of what or where?
I don’t know what they mean by the top and you don’t have anybody at the top. But they will tell you to go to the top or the highest level to get a letter for you to be considered for jobs in NDDC. I know that Mr. President is committed to the development of the Niger Delta. He has started it with the cleaning of the Niger Delta; we must commend him for taking the steps.
Are you saying that the people running the affairs of the NDDC are richer than the Niger Delta?
Yes. If you check the life style of the people put in charge of the NDDC over the years, you will see that they are either richer than the NDDC states or they have not used money for the purpose it was meant for.
The other day so much billions were found in the bank account of just a Personal Assistant. This probe is long overdue. I use this medium to appeal to Mr. President that further appointment into NDDC should not be based on political leaning.
Let the Niger Delta people make contribution to those who will serve in NDDC. The President should reshuffle the entire NDDC and hand the intervention agency back to the people because it was made for the people.
Why are you so passionate about the probe?
I was kidnapped at my Polytechnic site in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, just before the 2019 general elections. I suffered a lot; it cost my family a fortune before they could secure my release. But that is the least of the reasons for what you call my passion.
I discovered during my captivity that my kidnappers were young graduates. They told me that they are compelled to take to kidnapping. And they are very unhappy because society has left them no choice.
Their grouse is that government taps invaluable resources from their community without making commensurate contribution to the welfare of the Niger Delta people. If NDDC had done well over the years, the case would have been different; the youths would have been properly engage in meaningful ventures. That is why I am passionate about the probe.
Why do you want most of the jobs given to Niger Delta indigenes?
I am a criminologist. I have developed security programme for NDDC and I was told to go to the top before I can be favoured. If I was a non- indigene with top connections, I would got the job with ease and thousands of our people queue at the gate for who knows how long, without seeing the NDDC managers.
Let the jobs be given to Niger Delta indigenes, it will solve a lot of issues including security and restiveness in the region.
What are thoughts about the second Niger Bridge project?
The Niger bridge is a major link to the Delta region and what affects Onitsha people affects us directly. If the bridge is complete it will have a direct bearing in the people and development of Niger Delta.
Though I don’t know the state of work done on the Niger bridge project I can assure our people that the project will be completed under President Buhari’s administration. I don’t work with him but I can see the body language of the Minister of Works, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.
I passed through the bridge. I could see a lot of activities. May be after the rains, work will pick up. It is a project Mr President shouldn’t play with because it will speak volumes of his love for our people.
How would the opening up of the Eastern ports, which had remained moribund over the years, enhance development of the Niger Delta region?
I think that the President is dancing back gloriously to the people’s yearnings. I am aware that Ibom Sea Port will be opened very soon. Approval has been given to Calabar Sea Port. Onitsha River Port will also come on board and I also learn that One Sea Port, which has been doing well.
I want to categorically say that opening of the port in the south East, South South and Delta regions without putting unfair limitations on their operation will change the economy of Nigeria.
