The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NDDC

  • NDDC’s marginalization of Ondo State

    SIR: I have followed the activities of the Niger/Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for some time now. The commission, for reason best known to it and the federal government, has consigned the people of Ondo State into perpetual slavery.

    It beats common sense that despite the simple, clear and unambiguous conditions for the appointment of executive board members of the commision, only four states – Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom out of the nine Niger Delta states have continued to occupy the executive positions of Managing Director, Eexecutive Director, Projects and Eexecutive Director, Finance and Administration.

    It is disheartening that for the past 13 years, the aforementioned four states have constituted themselves into a cabal at the expense of the other five Niger Delta states. I consider this as an abuse of the principle of federal character and the law that established NDDC. The height of injustice at NDDC however, was witnessed last week when President Goodluck Jonathan released a fresh list of appointees for the NDDC board.

    True to the norm, the chairman was given to Cross Rivers State which is next logical state based on the the statutory provision of the NDDCAct.

    The President ceded the Managing Director to Akwa Ibom state, which has occupied the position of ED Projects twice.He also gave ED Projects to Delta State which has never missed any executive appointment since 2001 and gave ED Finance and Administration to Rivers State which had occupied ED Projects and M.D in the previous boards.

    It is obvious that the four states have maintained their hold on the three valuable executive positions despite that it is clearly stated that the positions shall be rotated amongst the nine member states.

    It is curious that the five marginalized states have maintained a criminal silence over this matter for 13 years with four sessions already observed. If the current list sent to the Senate for approval scales through, then, it would have been 17 years that Edo, Ondo, Abia, Imo and Cross-Rivers States have been deprived of their constitutional rights.

    It is far more suspicious as well that Senators and House of Representatives members from these disadvantaged, marginalized, cheated and caged states have continued to keep quiet over such an important issue and instead have constantly joined other senators to approve these lists in time past without raising any questions. What a shame!

    The time has come for the four states that have unduly enjoyed what

    rightfully belongs to nine states to step aside and allow the other five states enjoy these positions in the spirit of fairness, equity and justice. It is clearly and unambiguously stated that member states are to rotate these positions.In the case of chairman, this is religiously observed. Why should it be different for the other three critically important executive positions? Let there be equity, justice and fairness!

     

    • Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye,

    Magodo, Lagos.

  • Ondo lawmaker sues Jonathan, Adoke, Mark over NDDC board nominees

    The member representing Ilaje II Constituency in the Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr. Olugbenga Edema, yesterday sued President Goodluck Jonathan over his nominations for the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    Joined in the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, are Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Mohammed Adoke; Senate President David Mark and the Senate.

    The President recently forwarded the names of Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw and Mr. Bassey Dan-Abia to the Senate for screening and confirmation as NDDC Chairman and Managing Director.

    While Ewa-Henshaw was nominated to represent Cross River State, Dan-Abia was named to represent Akwa Ibom State.

    He is seeking a declaration that the oil producing areas of Ondo State are “entitled to one of the Executive Director positions” in the incoming board by “virtue of their position as the fifth largest oil producing area in the federation”.

    Edema is seeking an order restraining the Senate from screening or confirming the nominees pending the determination of the suit and an order restraining it from screening any other list of nominees that does not include an indigene of the Ondo oil producing areas.

    He urged the court to restrain the President from inaugurating the NDDC’s board without the inclusion of an indigene of the Ondo oil producing areas as the managing director or any of the executive directors.

    Edema argued that while Ondo is the fifth largest oil producing state, the positions had been rotating among Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states since the inception of the commission in 2001.

  • NDYM okays Abia’s nomination as NDDC MD/CEO

    The Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM) has supported Governor Godswill Akpabio’s nomination of his Commissioner for Housing and Urban Renewal, Akwa Ibom State, Bassey Dan Abia, for appointment as Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer.

    NDYM, at a briefing in Uyo, the state capital, said a great Niger Delta patron like Akpabio cannot but work for true and rapid development in the Niger Delta as evidenced in Akwa Ibom state.

    NDYM is the umbrella body of all youth groups and movement in the Niger Delta.

    The President of the group, Ajulisan Akumagba, explained that Abia proximity and participation in Governor Godswill Akpabio’s developmental revolution in Akwa Ibom state, gives credence to the propriety of his current nomination for the NDDC top job.

    Akumagba noted that Abia’s nomination also entails all that is required to further strengthen the already formidable cords of unity and brotherliness in Akwa Ibom state and the entire Niger Delta as a whole.

    Before his recent appointment as the Commissioner for Housing and Urban Renewal, Abia served as Attorney-General/Commissioner for Justice.

    He also served as NDDC Commissioner representing Akwa Ibom state and also acting chairman of the commission.

    The NDYM President said: “During all these years of public stewardship, Abia has never once been indicted or found guilty of any wrongdoing whatsoever. In fact, I recall that on many occasions during these different stints in public office, Abia received heartfelt commendations from many regional and, even, national stakeholders.”

    While thanking the Supreme Council of Youth Leaders in Akwa Ibom State for their stand in supporting the nomination of Abia as NDDC MD/CEO, Akumagba stated that, by this, the council has shown to all that they

    are interested in fast-tracking the development of the Niger Delta.

     

  • Ewa-Henshaw, Dan-Abia nominated for NDDC posts

    Ewa-Henshaw, Dan-Abia nominated for NDDC posts

     …Osunbor for Law Reform Commission

    President Goodluck Jonathan has nominated Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw and Barrister Bassey Dan-Abia as Chairman and Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) respectively.

    The names of the nominees were contained in letter Jonathan sent to the Senate for consideration and confirmation.

    The President also forwarded the name of former Governor of Edo State, Prof. Osarhiemen Osunbor to the Senate as Chairman, Nigerian Law Reform Commission.

    While Ewa-Henshaw was nominated to represent Cross River in the NDDC, Dan-Abia was named to represent Akwa Ibom.

    Others whose names were forwarded to the Senate for confirmation were- Itotenaan Henry Ogiri (ED Finance and Admin) Rivers, Engr. Tuoyo Omatsulu (ED Projects) Delta, Ball Turofade Oyarede (Bayelsa), Chief Ephraim Sobere Etete (Rivers), Etim Inyang Jnr (Akwa Ibom), Adah Paul Andeshi (Cross River) and Sir Tom Amioku (Delta)

    Also nominated as representatives in the commission were – Samuel Okezie Nwogu (Abia), Uchegbu Chidiebere Kyrian (Imo), Maj. Gen. Suleiman B. Said (North Central), Alh. Abdulmaik Mahmud (North East), Enikuomehin B.G. Olorungbonju (Ondo) and Mark Ward.

    Jonathan noted that subsequent to the dissolution of the Governing Board of the Commission on the September 13, 2011, nomination for its reconstitution have been compiled in accordance with Section 2(1) of the NDDC Act.

    On the Law Reform Commission, Mr. Kefas Magaji (North East), Mr. P.C. Okorie (South East) and Mrs. Zainab Ibrahim (North Central) were nominated for confirmation as commissioners.

     

     

     

  • NDDC awarded 447 contracts in Abia since 2000 –Representative

    The commissioner representing Abia State at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Barrister Aloysius Nwagboso has said that the commission has so far awarded about 447 contracts for various projects to be executed in the state from its inception in 2000. Speaking during a media chat in Umuahia, Nwagboso said that Abia State benefited from these projects because it is one of the nine states of the Niger Delta Region which the NDDC Act mandated to facilitate its rapid, even and sustainable development in the region. Nwaagboso said that the NDDC was an intervention agency created to address and find a lasting solution to the social and economic difficulties of the Niger Delta region, and commended the Federal Government’s wisdom in establishing it. He said, each of the 17 LGAs in Abia State has benefited and will continue to benefit from the commission’s projects and programmes. The NDDC commissioner listed the projects to include roads, electricity, health, water, scholarships, employment, skills acquisition, among others, “The Commission has also been dealing with the issue of restiveness occasioned by agitation which lead to militancy and insurgency in the past. We went into human capacity building, skills acquisition training and specifically trained a lot of people from the region which will also have multiplier effect.”

  • Senate approves N315.81b for NDDC

    The Senate yesterday approved N315, 805, 990,000 as the 2013 budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    This followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta, which scrutinised the NDDC fiscal policy.

    The amount represented the budget the Federal Government presented to the National Assembly for approval.

    A breakdown of the budget showed that personnel expenditure is to gulp N14.929 billion, overhead expenditure, N9.040 billion, capital expenditure (internal), N2.377 billion, while projects (development) expenditure is to take over N289.459 billion.

    A further breakdown shows that revenue brought forward N67 billion, Federal Government’s contribution, N61.347 billion, Federal Government’s contribution (Excess crude arrears), N50 billion, oil companies’ contribution and others, N125 billion, Ecological funds, N12.158 billion and other internally-realised income, N300 million.

    The committee said it considered the proposal and noted that the non-project expenditure totaling N26,346,251,148.00 represented 8.34 per cent of the total proposed budget for the year as against 7.5 per cent in 2012.

    The increase in percentage, the committee said, is largely due to increase in the staff strength, arising from the re-absorption of the workers of the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) into the NDDC.

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu underscored the need for the NDDC budget to be brought early to the National Assembly for approval.

    He noted that early approval of the budget is the only way for it to serve the people of Niger Delta and other Nigerians better.

  • Group protests abandoned NDDC road project

    A group, the Rebuild Nigeria Initiative, has expressed reservation over the alleged abandonment of Etomi/Agbokim road project by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    Coordinator of the group in Cross River State, Mr Castro Ezama, alleged the road was contracted to a contractor (names withheld) which has reportedly abandoned it for four years.

    Ezama, who led the protest to the NDDC office in Calabar, said their investigations showed that money for the project amounting to over N1trillion had been released without any work being done.

    He said: “We support strongly the transformation agenda of the present administration and so we will not just sit down and see people dent the image of the administration.”

    He alleged that the sub-contractors in Cross River had supplied materials for the project, which they have not been paid for since the project was abandoned.

    Castro said if nothing was done about the situation, they would carry their protest to the NDDC office in Rivers State to ensure their message, warning, “If it means buying mattresses to go and sleep at the NDDC in Rivers State, we would do it.”

    At a meeting with the member representing Etung State Constituency in the House of Assembly, Mr Ogiza Okongor, he pleaded that the state government intervene in the matter.

    He said: “We know that you are the one representing that constituency and we know that you can prevent this from continuing because we know that your voice can be heard, so we have come as Cross-Riverians who are very concerned in re-building our great country.”

    He pleaded with the federal lawmaker to see to it that their plea was heard by the state government.

    Okongor said the house recently invited NDDC to a meeting where they claimed that the contractors’ complaint was that insufficient fund was not released to them.

  • Reps bicker over NDDC’s N315.8b budget

    Reps bicker over NDDC’s N315.8b budget

    A report by the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) N315.8billion budget for 2013 resulted yesterday in a passionate debate in the House of Representatives.

    The report was laid before the House by the Deputy Chair of the Committee, Hon. Ibrahim Mohammed Garba, on behalf of the Chairman, Mutu Nicholas Ebomo.

    Hon. Karmil Akinlabi (PDP Oyo), raising a Point of Order, queried the propriety of bringing a budget with just a few weeks to the end of the year.

    Quoting Section 80(4) of the Constitution, Akinlabi wondered what the NDDC has been spending since April if they were bringing their budget at this late period.

    But the Deputy Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, said the House had already ruled on the report. “We’re violating the rules of the House. We can’t go back into what the House has ruled on. Financial year is January to December, and any other time prescribed by the National Assembly.

    However, the Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila (APC Lagos), was of the opinion that the observation by Hon. Akinlabi was important, saying Section 18(4) of the Constitution is the basis on which Karmil was querying the NDDC budget.

    “Matters like this can be brought at any time. What he is saying is based on section 80(4). We are in November now, from April to now, what has the NDDC been spending? I think this is what the House should look into. We should not sweep it under the carpet,” Gbajabiamila said.

    But a member, Uzoma Nkem Abonta ( PDP Abia) vehemently opposed Gbajabiamila’s position. Speaking on a Point of Order, he said: “They have been denied the money till now, let them have the money. Did the report say they’ve been spending money till now. We gave the job to a committee. Is this point of Order an attempt to stop the region from their rights?

    Sam Tsokwa, (PDP Taraba) Chairman of the House Committee on Rule and Business tried putting the issue in proper context.

    “Lets look at what the Constitution calls a financial year. Financial year means any period of 12 months beginning from January of any year, or any such other date as the National Assembly may prescribe.The April to December (on the NDDC report) is a mistake that can be rectified when the report is at the Committee of the Whole”

    Gbajabiamila however insisted that the issue of the financial year is not the only one in contention. “The issue that is being addressed apart from the financial year is section 80(4), where did the money that they ( NDDC) have been spending come from?

    At this juncture, Hon. John Enoh (PDP Cross River), Chairman House Committee on Appropriation, waded into the issue, saying the Constitution permits some latitude for such spending before the passage of a budget.

    He said: “The report of the Committee has been laid before the House. I think most of the issues being discussed are issues for the Committee of the Whole. While Section 80(4) is important, the Constitution permits expenditure for 6 months before the budget is passed.

    The Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who presided while ruling said, he has noted the Point of Order raised by Hon. Akinlabi. “I request and appeal to our colleagues that if there are complaints, members should bring them during the consideration of the report.

  • NDDC: Youths reject Abia’s nomination

    Reactions have trailed the nomination of Chief Bassey Dan Abia for the position of the managing director/chief executive officer (MD/CEO) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The latest is by a Niger Delta youths group called the Southsouth Youth Patriotic Movement (SSYPAM).

    Members of the group, in a communiqué after a meeting in Port Harcourt, said Abia served seven fruitless years (two terms) on the board of the commission as Akwa Ibom State representative, therefore he had nothing more to offer.

    They said besides he was part of the Larry Koinya-led board, who was sacked by a presidential panel, adding that after being indicted of corruption by the provisions of NDDC Act, he was not qualified to serve again in the commission, having completed his two terms.

    They urged President Goodluck Jonathan to save the Niger Delta from corrupt leaders by refusing to consider Abia’s nomination.

    The position of the NDDC chief became vacant when the last Managing Director, Dr. Chibuzor Ugwuoha, left in August after a four- year term.

    Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State recommended Abia to President Jonathan for appointment as the NDDC chief.

    It is the turn of Akwa Ibom State to produce the next managing director.

    But youths have kicked against Akpabio’s nominee.

    Change Initiative Forum (CIF), also a Niger Delta youth group, at a news conference in Port Harcourt condemned the nomination of Abia on the grounds that recycling officers would increase looting, corruption and god-fatherism.

    In a communiqué by its President, Chinagorom Nwankwo, National Organising Secretary Adokiye Mujiton and Publicity Secretary Godpower John, the group said: “According to the provision of Section 3(1) of the NDDC Act, he is no longer eligible to serve.

    “Abia was a member of the Larry Koinya-led board, which was sacked after 28 months (2009 to July 2011), by a presidential panel for corruption (the only board that has ever been sacked since the inception of the commission).

    “This board was known for its infamous intense boardroom rivalry, corruption and other misdemeanour that made members to spend more than half of their tenure in Abuja where they were summoned 25 times to settle quarrels to the detriment of the development of the region.

    “Abia contributed to the record of non-performance, leading to the resignation of the Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso from the board.

    “If the Federal Government goes ahead to appoint Abia for the position, for justice, equity and fairness, other members, who were sacked with him, should also be recalled because they committed the same crime.”

     

  • Group petitions Jonathan on NDDC appointment

    A group, Akwa Ibom Peoples Network, has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan, demanding that a certain Barrister Dan Abia should not be appointed as Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The group which hinged its rejection of Abia as possible appointee as managing director/ CEO, cited their reason as alleged leadership failure, among others, while he was part of the previously dissolved board. In a letter entitled: “Please do not appoint Barrister Bassey Dan Abia as Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commision (NDDC)” and signed by Obong Mfon Obot Akpabio and Udo Udom Emmanuel, Chairman and Secretary respectively, the group wrote: “Your Excellent Sir, recently we read in the mass media the plan of your administration to re-constitute the board of NDDC and a certain Barrister. Dan Abia is speculated to have been tipped as the incoming Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the organisation. Sir, we are totally against the choice of Barrister. Dan Abia. Also cited as reasons for opposing Abia’s likely appointment include: self-centeredness, alleged dual loyalty to PDP and the “New PDP”.