The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NDDC

  • Group uncovers plots to smear NDDC boss

    Group uncovers plots to smear NDDC boss

    A pressure group, Media Advocacy for Anti-Corruption has uncovered alleged plans by the Rivers State Government to run a smear campaign against the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari.

    A statement issued by the national coordinator of the group, Mr. James Okoronkwo, alleged that fictitious memos and doctored receipts are being pushed out to mainly online and print media concerning Semenitari’s period as Commissioner in the state.

    “The plan is to cast her as corrupt and unfit in order to sway public opinions against the NDDC’s boss and hopefully, compel President Muhammadu Buhari from confirming her as substantive MD and as well send the anti-corruption agencies against her,” the group said.

    According to the pressure group, there are desperate moves to taint her, given her impeachable character and time as commissioner.

    They are of the opinion that if they can sufficiently rubbish her, President Buhari will be forced not to appoint her as the substantive Managing Director of the NDDC.

    “Don’t be surprised if you see statements claiming that the Acting MD of the NDDC sponsored the APC matter at the tribunal through award of fictitious contracts as well as alleging that she appointed 23 aides from Rivers state alone. The end product is to pitch the other NDDC states against her and ensure that her tenure is characterised by crisis and mistrust,” the group alleged.

  • Group rejects Sementari’s appointment as NDDC chief

    President Muhammadu Buhari was on Thursday advised to reverse the appointment of Ebim Sementari (Rivers State) as the acting‎ Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    President Buhari had in December 22 last year dissolved the board of NDDC headed by Mr. Dan Abia (Akwa Ibom State) and announced Semenitari as his replacement in acting capacity.

    The International Institute of Humanitarian and Environmental Law said Sementari’s appointment was against the rule of law.

    Briefing journalists in Abuja, the Registrar of the Institute, Cyprian Edward- Ekpo,  noted that Sementari’s appointment contravened the NDDC act which provided that when a managing director fails to finish his or her four year tenure, another person shall be appointed from his state to complete the term.

    He said many elders and youths of Akwa Ibom State and other states of the Niger Delta region have reacted with hostility against what is perceived as injustice and a breach of those statutory provisions.

    Pointing out that President Buhari has the right and power to dissolve the NDDC Board and the management committee, and to remove the Managing Director and Executive Director when found wanting, he r said that Akwa Ibom State is being denied its rightful place in breach of Section 3, 4 and 5 (2) of the NDDC Act.

    He said: “By virtue of Section 5(1) (a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution and Sections 3,4 and 5(2) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (CAP N86) LFN 2004 as preserved by Section 318 of the Constitution of Nigeria, President Buhari has erred in law in failing to appoint an indigene of Akwa Ibom State as a successor to the deposed Managing Director, Mr. Bassey Dan Abia, to complete the state’s  tenure in the commission.

  • Semenitari promises better NDDC

    Semenitari promises better NDDC

    President Muhammadu Buhari, in his determination to make life better for the people of the crude oil and gas-rich Niger Delta, on December 21, 2015, appointed the immediate past Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, as the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The Federal Government’s intervention agency (NDDC) was established in year 2000 by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Semenitari hails from coastal Opobo, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    As at the time of her appointment on December 21, Semenitari was in Abuja and without wasting time and in order to hit the ground running, thereby quickly cleaning the rot in NDDC, she moved to Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital on December 22 and was received by a large crowd at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.

    The airport’s tumultuous crowd consisted of beautifully-dressed women in uniform, and other eminent persons from the nine states of the Niger Delta: Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Imo and Abia, with many people singing, drumming, dancing and waving at the new NDDC boss in admiration, before joining her car.

    The hardworking and foremost journalist quickly moved to the corporate headquarters of the commission on the Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway, with the outgoing managing director, Bassey Dan-Abia, a lawyer and an indigene of Akwa Ibom state, who was two years in office on December 18, handing over to her at NDDC’s Boardroom on the eighth floor of the office complex.

    The Rivers chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) also lauded President Buhari for appointing hardworking Semenitari as NDDC’s helmsman, describing the decision as a step in the right direction, in order to move the Niger Delta forward.

    APC, through its Rivers Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, said: “We thank President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Mrs. Ibim Semenitari as Acting Managing Director of NDDC.

    “The leadership and entire members of the Rivers State Chapter of the APC wish to, most profoundly, thank President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, for finding one of us, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, worthy for appointment as the Acting Managing Director of NDDC.”

    Semenitari, while addressing the directors and other top officials of the commission, shortly after the handing over at NDDC’s corporate headquarters in Port Harcourt, promised to ensure a better life for Niger Deltans,.

    She noted that she understood what the challenges and issues confronting the crude oil and gas-rich, but marginalised region were, stressing that she had in-depth knowledge of what NDDC ought to be doing.

    The distinguished journalist, who spoke extempore, said:  “In all of my working life, I have agitated for better life for the Niger Delta, because I am a firm believer in the fact that we are the goose that lays the golden eggs. We have a right to benefit there from. In all of my working life as a journalist, I have made it my responsibility to expose the ills that have bedevilled the region. So, I have a clear understanding of what the issues are in this region. As a reporter, I have covered matters in NDDC. I was there from the first day. I was there at the launch of the master plan. I did stories about it. So, I have indepth knowledge of what this commission ought to be doing.

    “I have followed events, not just as a journalist, but as somebody who has worked in this region. Therefore, I understand what our challenges are. It is now time, by the grace of God, for me to do my part. When I was told about this appointment, the first thing I said was that God keeps and places us in time and space for a reason. So, at this time, it has pleased God to put me in this place. I have a responsibility, first to God. Secondly to the President and Commander-in-Chief, to make sure that his vision, which is the development of the Niger Delta, comes to pass. I owe it to my region, to defend it and develop it..”

    The new managing director also reiterated that hers was an acting position, with absolutely no time.

    She said: “What that means for the directors and other members of staff of this commission is that you will forgive me, because we will have pressure-pot pressure.

    “For the sake of our region, it means we will take away a little bit of your sleep, but I am sure you will be satisfied, when you see the results of the loss of sleep.”

    Dan-Abia stated that he tried his best, while at the helm of affairs at the commission and had no regrets.

     

     

  • NDDC contractors protest unpaid fees

    NDDC contractors protest unpaid fees

    Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) contractors yesterday protested in front of the commission’s headquarters on Aba Road, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, demanding their unpaid fees.

    The protesters, under the aegis of Association of NDDC Contractors, accused the commission of being insensitive to their plight.

    They urged the Federal Government to cancel fresh contracts awarded by the agency’s previous board.

    The leader of the protesters, Mr Joe Adia, said it was unnecessary for new contracts to be awarded when old ones had not been paid for.

    Adia noted that some of his colleagues were owed for jobs executed five or three years ago, adding that some had died out of frustration.

    The contractor said the association staged the protest to alert the Acting Managing Director, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, to their plight.

    He said: “We welcome the new acting managing director. We want her to know that the major problem is that contractors have been owed for about five years.

    “For some, their Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs) are missing because of the delay in payment. We want Mr President to know that our major problem is payment.”

    He said: “They have awarded projects for 2016 in the budget. We are saying these should be cancelled. They should focus on the payment of contractors. The Federal Government should fund NDDC properly.

    “They will announce a budget for NDDC in billions but at the end of the day, the cash that will be released will be far less. This is not right. They should release what they announce as budget for the commission annually.

    “Contractors suffer, if anything happens to NDDC. The workers will only go and look for another job. So, the acting MD should focus on payment of contractors. We welcome the acting MD. We don’t have any problem with her. We are only acquainting her with our plight.”

  • Ijaw youths hail Buhari for reorganising Nigeria, NDDC

    Ijaw youths yesterday hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for reorganising Nigeria and restructuring the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    They noted that President Buhari meant well for Niger Delta with the appointment of Ibim Seminetari as the agency’s acting managing director.

    The youth, under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, hailed the appointment of the ex-Rivers State commissioner for Information.

    IYC President Udengs Eradiri, who spoke in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, said the biggest problem confronting the region was the diversion of money for NDDC’s projects into private pockets.

    The youth leader said the agency, which was founded to coordinate development in the region, had been turned into a conduit pipe to siphon money.

    He said the IYC believed that the President appointed Seminetari to purge the agency of alleged corruption and enhance its performance.

    Eradiri said President Buhari should not allow the NDDC to be used as an avenue for political battles.

    He said: “I want to commend President Buhari for beginning the process of reorganising the NDDC. One of our biggest problems in the Niger Delta is that the institutions run by Niger Deltans to empower the people and develop the region are conduit pipes for stealing money… We are our biggest problem.

    “The NDDC is becoming a problem for us in the region. The President has begun the process of reorganising Nigerians. The NDDC is key to restructuring the Niger Delta.”

    Eradiri proposed the decentralisation of the NDDC for efficiency and better management of resources.

    He said: “The NDDC should be decentralised to the states. This method of allowing everybody to come to the centre has destroyed the NDDC. The biggest should be according to the production quota of each state.”

    Eradiri, who visited some leaders in the region, called for the establishment of skill acquisition programmes for prison inmates.

    He added: “A prison, which is supposed to be a rehabilitation centre, is now a place where hardened criminals are bred. I went to the Okaka Prisons in Yenagoa. It was so disappointing that in less than five years, it has no sports facilities and no training facilities. The water is bad; there are no mattresses, no conducive environment for the inmates to live.

    “I feel that the NDDC, which is an interventionist agency, should build skill acquisition centres in the prisons. The IYC has contributed its quota. We are donating sports facilities, such as table tennis, football and others.”

  • NDDC: Ondo monarchs demand MD slot

    Traditional rulers in the oil producing communities of Ondo State have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint an indigene as the  Managing Director (MD) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The monarchs, in a statement by the Olikan of Etikan, Oba Adeleke Adedoyin Oyetakin and the Ahaba of Ajagba, Oba Thomas Adesayo, said it was the state’s turn to produce the MD.

    They lamented that the state has not produced candidates for any principal position since the NDDC’s inception 15 years ago.

    The monarchs explained that while Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Rivers states had repeatedly produced the MD, Executive Director Projects (EDP), Executive Director Finance and Administration (EDFA) and Chairmen of the Board concurrently, Ondo has not held any key position.

    They said they would  send their position paper to the Presidency for appropriate action.

    Oba Adesayo said they had delegated some monarchs to meet with appropriate authorities on the need to zone the position to the state.

    The monarchs said the oil communities have nominated Prince Joshua Oyetakin as their candidate

  • NDDC opens 522 bed hostels in Rivers varsity

    NDDC opens 522 bed hostels in Rivers varsity

    In furtherance of its determination to boost education in the Niger Delta region, the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, commissioned and handed over a 522 bed-space prototype hostel to the authorities of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, RSUST, Port Harcourt.

    The event, which took place on Wednesday, came on the heels of the inauguration of similar hostels in 6 other universities across the region.

    Speaking at the occasion, the NDDC Managing Director, Sir (Barr.) Bassey Dan-Abia, said that the ultra modern hostel, which would accommodate close to one thousand students, would raise the status of the university and provide the enabling environment for students to perform well in their studies.

    He said that the relatively large number of students to be accommodated in the new hall of residence would contribute immensely to easing the overcrowding of existing hostels in the university.

    The NDDC boss said that apart from ensuring that the hostel was fully furnished, the commission will also provide a new electricity generating set as requested by the university and said that it had raised the bar in the area of providing modern hostel facilities for universities and polytechnics in the Niger Delta.

    Sir Dan-Abia declared that the current funding challenges facing the NDDC would not deter it from performing its function as an interventionist agency.

    He said that out of the 19 student hostels being built by the NDDC across the Niger Delta region, only one was completed at the time the 4th governing Board of the Commission was inaugurated on December 16, 2013. “We are today commissioning the seventh hostel and 4 more would be ready soon. We have inaugurated similar hostels in Imo State University, Federal University of Science and Technology, Owerri, University of Benin, Delta State University, Abraka, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike,” he said.

    The Acting Vice Chancellor of the RUST, Prof. Blessing Didia, thanked the NDDC for coming to its rescue in alleviating the accommodation problems of the university.

    He said: “The University has a student population of about 20,000 and only about two thousand students are accommodated on campus. You can, therefore, understand the joy of the university community for the great relief which this unprecedented Christmas gift by NDDC would bring to the university.”

    Prof. Didia underlined the importance of student’s hostel accommodation in the university system and said that RUST had every reason to celebrate what he described as a wonderful gesture from the NDDC.

    He said further: “Apart from providing the students with another home away from their homes, campus hostel accommodation guarantees a sense of security for the students. It also enhances healthy students’ relationship and encourages commitment and academic excellence.”

    The Vice Chancellor said that the magnificent edifice handed over to the university by the NDDC went beyond the 3-floor 174-room structure, according to him; the complex houses other ancillary facilities such as a 20,000 gallons water works, cybercafé, shops and students lounge.

    The Chairman of the Students’ Union Government, Mr. Wealth Gospel, said the students were grateful to the NDDC for giving them a state-of-the-art facility that would save them from the dangers and difficulties of living outside the campus. He promised that the students would take good care of the facilities.

     

  • Reps walk out NCC, NDDC over non-remitance of non-oil revenue 

    Reps walk out NCC, NDDC over non-remitance of non-oil revenue 

    Officials of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were barred from a House of Representatives ad hoc committee hearing investigating alleged fraud in the remittance of generated non-oil revenue.

    The officials of the two agencies were walked out due to the non-appearance of their chief executives.

    The NCC was represented at the hearing by some officials led by the Director of Public Affairs, Anthony Ojobo, while the NDDC was represented by Executive Director of Finance, Henry Ogiri.

    Other agencies at the public hearing included the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Nigerian Communications  Satelite (NigComSat)Ltd.

    The action of the committee was coming on the heels of a challenge thrown to House committees by the Speaker Yakubu Dogara at a retreat earlier Monday that the House is set to drive the change agenda of the government.

    The panel, chaired by Chike Okafor (APC, Imo) said the non-appearance of the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC Prof Umar Garba Dambatta and NDDC Managing Director Bassey Dan-Abia was against the rules of the House.

    According to him, engaging officials who cannot take responsibility for the actions of their agencies at the hearing would not serve the purpose of the investigation.

    Okafor however said Dambatta and Dan-Abia must appear before the panel to respond to questions relating to their organizations on a date to be announced by the panel.

    “We have to engage those that would not set us back because the mandate of the committee is critical to the economic realities on ground in this country.

    “With a monolithic economy and the fact that we don’t have control of global oil market, with (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) setting its benchmark at $35, while we set ours at $38, the implication is that we are going to have issues with our budget proposal.

    “That is why we have to look into non-oil revenue generation and we are looking at the past four years.

    “We need to know what has transpired in that period concerning statutory and other sources of funds, interest paid on deposit accounts, banks  used by the agencies concerned   in terms of kinds of accounts, before Treasury Single Account  (TSA), investment portfolios, offshore banks among others requests.

    “If we are looking at all of these, we must have officers who can take responsibility for whatever is given to the committee.”

    The submisions of NTA, FRCN and NigComSat were however taken by the Committee.

  • NDDC’s ‘multi-billion Naira fraud’,  NASS committees and oversight functions

    Recently when the list of the chairmen of the House of Representatives committees were released, the people of Niger Delta were mainly interested in which of the committees their ‘illustrious’ sons would be chairmen.

    Such committees include the Oil and Gas – upstream and downstream, environment and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    Of the committees, the NDDC is most dear to the people of oil-bearing communities in the region, especially against the backdrop of recent allegations and counterclaims on how the commission’s funds have been managed and mismanaged over the years.

    Although established to develop the nine states that make up the oil-rich delta as its name implies, NDDC has, over the years, mainly developed a very few politicians, their cronies and hangers-on who are mostly based in Abuja, the seat of power of the Nigerian state, to the detriment of those in the region.

    These powerful Nigerians usually besiege the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt with letters, call cards and ‘notes’ from The Presidency, National Assembly or any of the powerful organisations/bodies and individuals who parade the corridors of power.

    The bearers of these missives usually come up with phantom projects and proposals, which are usually approved because of their connections at the top; the considerations are usually not how the projects would benefit the people, but how much their executors stand to gain.

    Last Word recalls an interesting scenario about a year ago, when a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) sent one of his ‘boys’ to the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt with a request for the board to approve a proposal for the supply of Atlases to all government schools in the region at the whopping cost of over N3 billion.

    The SGF accompanied the proposal with several telephone calls to the Managing Director, Mr Dan Abia and other members of the board on the need to approve the proposal.

    It was gathered that the ‘proposal’ ended up on the desk of an Executive Director for “action and final approval”.

    Sensing that it was a plan to rip-off the commission, the ED, (names withheld) it was learnt, reportedly agreed to the deal on the condition that the SGF would openly own the project by allowing his photograph to be taken along with the book of maps.

    The ED said the power broker should take credit as the initiator and executor of the ‘project’. Last Word cannot ascertain how that drama ended before the last administration was swept out of power.

    Apologies for the digression as this piece is not an article on “How ‘Abuja’ Robbed NDDC”. This week’s Last Word is on the chairmanship of the HoR Committee on NDDC as was announced by the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara recently.

    The re-appointment of Hon. Nicholas Mutu, the member representing Burutu Federal Constituency in the House has been received with subdued indignation by people of the areas and members of the NDDC board, not least because the chairman is not from a core oil-producing community, but because of allegations of alleged hijack of the commission in favour of his area. It was also because of what one source declared as the “immorality” of rewarding the chair of a committee that could not stop these frauds with another term.

    Some respondents who spoke with our reporter queried the use of these committees in view of the alleged role of some of their members in the problems of the NDDC.

    “We were told that the NDDC misappropriated hundreds of billions within a certain period. This is, no doubt, not only an indictment of the board if these allegations are proved; it also questions the usefulness of the various committees on NDDC in the National Assembly. Of what is their use? If these committees failed to perform their statutory responsibility and allow the board to mismanage this fund as claimed by even the National Assembly, is it not evidence of the failure of the 7th National Assembly committee? Why then are Dogara and the House now rewarding this failure with re-appointment?” a staff queried.

    The development also gives credence to insinuations that NDDC is a lucrative chair, which benefits its members and the leadership of the House.

    Rumours are also rife within the corridors of the NDDC in Port Harcourt that some members of a committee reportedly demanded a whopping N1 billion to ‘facilitate’ the passage of the 2015 budget of the commission.

    “This is not the first time that this has happened; it is a regular occurrence for committees to demand money from commissions to expedite the passage of their budget.”

     

  • NDDC, OMPALAN to meet on Niger Delta menace

    NDDC, OMPALAN to meet on Niger Delta menace

    The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is to meet with  the Oil Producing Area Landlord’s Association of Nigeria (OMPALAN)  to brainstorm on checking kidnapping in the region.

    Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo is expected to attend  the meeting  scheduled for October 8-10.

    The  National Chairman of  OMPALAN  Board  of Trustees, Bishop Udo Azogu, said the association remains committed to its  mandate  to assist the Federal Government  in achieving sustainable peace in oil and minerals producing areas of the country.

    He  decried the rate at which host communities are suffering different hardships and deprivation, noting that “also we can have a kind of exercise or raise fund for the committee to go to the rural areas for them to lift the living standard there.

    “We will get the video footage and put it on our website. There are some of these countries and charity organisations that are looking for organisations like OMPALAN to link them to such communities. So, we have to look at where we can come in for these organisations to see us as an organisation that can actually deliver.”

    The association which admitted that its role is advisory and not confrontational to the government also mulled the idea of requesting most of the state governments to allow local government area councils to run separate accounts.

    Former Super Eagles great, Daniel Amokachi, who is the National Youth Leader of the Oil Producing Area Landlord’s Association of Nigeria (OMPALAN), has said that the association will develop the skills of youths in entertainment such as football, fashion, acting and others.

    The plan is for the association to eradicate youth poverty in the areas.

    The association that recently incorporated landlords from minerals producing areas into its fold, appointed him as Youth Leader and assigned Zainab H. Akwanga as his deputy.

    In an interview with The Nation, Amokachi, who unfolded his plans to the association, noted that OMPALAN would approach the oil companies that generate income from the areas to give back to the communities.

    He recalled that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) produced light in a recreation centre for some kids in some countries, adding that the association could request the oil giant to replicate it in oil host communities.