Editorial
The issue of fraud and impunity in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) will continue to attract questioning and outrage in the country and in the south-south region, until we see a way to sanity. There is a fog right now, and between fraud and decency lie a presidency and a minister in mysterious union.
The latest problem has been the inquiry of the Senate into the N6.2 billion purportedly spent on COVID-19 palliatives. This follows a petition that has been made available to the Senate. The chairman of the NDDC COvid-19 Palliatives Committee, Sobamabo Jackrich, reportedly described it “as a show of shame.” He said, “My findings is (sic) not only that the money cannot be accounted for, but there is nothing on ground to show that the 6.2 naira of our hard-earned taxpayers money was invested for its original purpose which the president approved.”
The Senate had invited members of the interim management committee to answer queries of the disbursement of the money. Up till the time of writing, they had snubbed the law chamber. This was an act of impunity and official arrogance.
We remember as a country the histrionics the interim head, Prof. Keme Pondei, gave the country when he appeared on the floor of the House of Representatives and it ended in a fainting spell, and the whole appearance came to an end. The man has not materialized since then to the legislature to give a wholesale account of the doing in his agency.
The Senate has subsequently issued arrest warrants but nothing has come out of it. The efforts of the IMC may be a well-crafted rigmarole to avert an opportunity to render account of their cynical foray into the people’s patrimony.
The sum of money, N6.2 billion, is not what any country, state or people should ignore. A palliative as an idea carries emotions of help and rescue, and even salvation for the vulnerable. But to allocate money officially for it and not spend it is not only savage but runs counter to the concept of government but also of democracy.
The impression of the country is that the NDDC management, especially under the Niger Delta minister, is a moral sty. Last year it was the fight, an open brawl between former IMC head Nuniez and Minister Godswill Akpabio, and the recriminations became so seedy that they became personal and prurient.
There was outcry that the problem arise from the President’s acquiescence to the minister’s requests to continue to postpone the auditing contract into the accounting sewers of the agency. The same President Muhammadu Buhari had signed off on a new board for the NDDC and the senate had also assented. The matter fell into paralysis as the president executed an about-face and appointed an interim management committee and ordered an audit for six months.
The time expired and another six months extension was approved. Now, there is no end in sight for the body as it wallows in corruption, one of the most sordid being the offer of perks, including cars, to the auditing firm. This was condemned on this page, and that did not attract the official rage or even concern of the presidency.
The NDDC was established to bring government close to the people. It has failed to rise to the promise of its constitutional role. Many groups and civil society organisations have called for the president not to preside over the lack of decency in the agency but silence has remained the response.
More importantly, the president ought to sack the interim management committee and follow the due process of swearing in the board. By doing so, it will not be going back to its vomit, but abandoning the sty.
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