Over the years, one of the major shortcomings of the foremost federal government’s interventionist agency, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is its inability to run seamlessly, without interruption, with a well constituted management as enshrined in the laws establishing it.
NDDC is perhaps one of the few federal agencies that has the unenviable record of having the highest turnovers of a ceaseless contraption called Interim management. This has been a bane as members of such shortly programmed management hardly settle down to draw up long term development plans before they are eased out for another.
The Interim Management as the name connotes, functions within the palpable trepidation that their tenure is going to be short lived. This leads them to initiate projects and programmes that are ad hoc in nature. The antecedents have shown that some of those projects, no matter how laudable, end up abandoned as they outlive the Interim administration that started them before they are dissolved for new ones to take over. The succeeding administration may not be keen on continuing in executing the projects it did not initiate coupled with the endemic paucity of funds. No wonder there are a plethora of abandoned projects by the agency in the nooks and crannies of the nine states that co-own NDDC.
It therefore shows how warped and desperate individuals or groups who profess their love for the Niger Delta that is plagued with underdevelopment can be canvassing for the dissolution of the current management that is well constituted and led by Dr Samuel Ogbuku as the Managing Director and Chief Executive which is just a few months old.
Observers consider it as shocking that people who are merely driven by primordial sentiments and stomach infrastructure will stop at nothing to upturn the applecart just to achieve their inordinate ambition to continue to fleece the region.
It is also sad and heartrending to see how desperate a section of some self-styled elders from the Niger Delta region can go to destroy the hard-earned reputation and personality of persons in a most wicked attempt to take control of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
They arm themselves with tar brushes to dent the image of the personalities in the management of the commission, accusing it with unverifiable and unimaginable allegations of financial malfeasance.
In a stretch of a miserable link associating the futile plot for the tinkering board and management of the commission to the highest political leadership of the south-south region. It becomes gloomy for the region to be subjected to the whims and caprices of one man who has erroneously arrogated to himself supreme powers to dictate who gets what in the oil rich region, just for one reason, their selfish interest.
In the last two weeks, the news media has been awash with reports of a purported petition to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by a self-styled amorphous group under the aegis of the “Niger Delta Elders for Good Governance” (NDEGG), calling for the removal of Chief (Dr) Samuel Ogbuku, current Managing Director of the NDDC.
The presumed leader of the pseudo group, which has no known address and recognisable Palace, in the said petition spewed inanities and absolute falsehood against Dr Ogbuku, thinking in their deceitful minds that the presidency will be swayed by their untruth.
In a failed effort to dent the image of Dr Ogbuku, the group went as far as trampling on his goodwill and reputation to prove that he is a corrupt and bad person. The petitioner threw caution to the winds in a bid to deceive and outlandishly alleged that Dr Ogbuku had mismanaged funds.
For the records, Dr Ogbuku only assumed duties as the Managing Director of the NDDC, on January 5th, 2023 he was barely in office for about seven months. Verifiable records at the commission show that the commission has not received such an amount as claimed by the group.
By speculating that there is a rift between the Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio, Secretary to Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume and the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamala, over the position of the Managing Director of the commission, the group is only attempting to sow a seed of discord between the top government functionaries and use the MD of the Commission as pawn in powerplay. That will not work as Niger Deltans already know them and their greedy game in their every step.
The groundswell of opinion holds that the current MD is doing extremely well and should be allowed to continue as the managing director of the commission.
In furtherance of Ogbuku’s administration’s efforts to refocus the commission to key into the global best practices in the management of the agency, on Wednesday August 23, he led his management team to sign an agreement with KPMG, a multinational business management consultancy firm, to provide advisory services to the Commission on global best practices in corporate governance culture and internal processes.
Before then the managing director has engaged various multinationals in partnership for the development of the region.
Ogbuku said that the objective engaging with this organisation was to strengthen the NDDC as an institution by instituting internal regulations that would outlive the current management.
Despite all the noble efforts of the present management, it should made clear to the naysayers it is within the law that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation, reserves the right to appoint persons that will work with him. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can never abdicate his responsibility as the constitution is very clear on powers of the President of the country.
It is a height of disrespect to the office of the President of the Federation for the leadership of the group to assume the function of Mr. President and presume an anger and frustration against President Tinubu for ignoring their call for the removal of Dr Samuel Ogbugu and institute an interim government which the people of the region have consistently rejected.
One of the factors militating against rapid development of the region is associated with incessant change in the leadership structure of the interventionist Agency and the introduction of Interim Administration.
The self-acclaimed Niger Delta elders and other stakeholders alerted President Bola Tinubu to what they regarded as a face-off between one of his chief aides and the leadership of the Senate over the latter’s probe of the alleged illegal, wasteful and unverifiable expenditures at the NDDC to the tune of about N350billion.
How much can these self-appointed Elders go to cook and dish out fathom stories? At what point did the Senate approve the budget for the Commission where a humongous amount of money such as alleged could have been spent?
Niger Delta Elders for Good Governance and Accountability, the stakeholders also alleged that the Senate is miffed by the alleged level of disrespect and usurping of the authorities of the Senate President, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio and Senator George Akume, by an unnamed “Aso Rock official” over issues leading to the possible naming of a new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) for the Commission. The question is: Who is the “Aso Rock official” who is barely four months in office to be dragged into a selfish power game?
According to the group, while the Senate President and SGF want a change of guard at NDDC to promote economic growth and development in the region in line with President Tinubu’s mandate, the particular Presidential Villa (Aso Rock) top shot was alleged to have vowed to retain the present MD, Dr. Samuel. Although the group cowardly could not name the “Aso Rock official”, suffice it to state that unnamed must have seen through the veil wild allegations as mere coverup to ‘give dog a bad in order to hang it’.
The elders and the so-called stakeholders, in a statement issued via electronic mail called on President Tinubu to caution his aide who, they noted, had vowed to retain Ogbuku allegedly against the wishes of the people of the Niger Delta region. This is not only uncharitable but demeaning for a faceless group masquerading as the untainted representative of the vast majority of the region. Appointment of public officers is strictly within the purview of Mr. President.
They elders unfortunately didn’t state that the journey they are embarking on to pull down the present management structure of NDDC with Ogbuku as the main target is an outright meddlesomeness on inalienable rights of President Tinubu.
Making fake and spurious allegations look real the group claims that “For example, the NDDC allegedly spent N150 billion in three months between January to March 2023 as reported to the Senate Ad hoc Committee and has since then spent over N200 billion in unverifiable projects. Within the last few weeks alone, the NDDC has paid over 72 unverifiable distilling projects worth N650 million each, totaling over N46 billion. This is insanity, and it seems like no one in the Presidency cares or is even trying to stop this evil that is being perpetrated against the Niger Delta people.”
Where are the proofs of evidence?
The group expressed their anger and frustration against President Tinubu for ignoring calls to remove the MD/CEO, dissolve the Commission’s Board and allow the “most qualified director” to handle its affairs pending the constitution of a new Board, alleging that the lack of accountability at the NDDC had brought the Commission to financial ruins.
For the palpable fear that their ballooned allegations would definitely be punctured with a pin, “The Elders and stakeholders called on the President not to give listening ears to sponsored and paid sycophants in the media urging him to retain the Managing Director of the NDDC but that the President should ask these sponsored jobbers how many votes did his Presidential Campaign win in these individuals’ areas and local governments, despite the fact that these individuals were holding these offices throughout his Presidential campaign and failed to support him but rather, they allegedly contributed to support the opposition,” they stated.
They veered off from the main issues of merit and competent management of NDDC to partisan politics when the so-called elders and stakeholders offered to expose what they described as the shoddy and disloyal role of a leading politician from Bayelsa State and Dr. Ogbuku ahead of the February 25 Presidential poll.
This is puerile, cheap and mundane as the allegations of political loyalty are as wild as they can be. Are they pointedly claiming that on the day of the Presidential poll they were in their various polling units and wards and were simultaneously at Dr Ogbuku’s polling units to note who and how he mobilized and voted?
They also decried the lack of meaningful development in the oil and gas-rich region despite the trillions of Naira extracted from the region. For this, they are right. But they too must share in the blame because their likes are the standby tools always available for the use to pull down genuine efforts to develop the region.
The Elders reminded the President that, according to them: “The National Assembly approved the total sum of N876 billion budget for Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the 2023 financial year.
“This was sequel to the consideration and adoption of the report of the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Out of the amount N34.24 billion was for personnel expenditure, the sum of N17.47 billion was for overhead expenditure, the sum of N3.71 billion was for internal capital expenditure and the sum of N490.55 billion was for development projects for the service of the NDDC for the financial year ending March 31, 2024.And because of that:
“We are calling on President Tinubu and the SGF Senator Akume to dissolve the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer and allow the most qualified director to handle the affairs of the commission, pending the constitution of a new Board before it’s too late to salvage the Commission,” shows how cheap and low the hatchet men are.
However, what men, women and youths of the region should be concerned about now is how to cooperate with the present management of the Agency and not dwell in “Pull Him Down” PHD syndrome.
Close observers are of the considered opinion that the sponsor of the amorphous Elders and stakeholders are intimidated by the laid-out management goals of the present administration of the Agency in line with a known Fisher of talents, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Expectedly, they are terrified that the agency would not remain a cash cow for them to exploit. So, to ensure that the management is distracted and the President cowed by churned out media blackmail Dr Samuel Ogbuku would be eased out of the place to pave the way to plant their cronies and puppets.
