BY John Odhe
Oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region have remained recalcitrant in remitting statutory dues to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as enshrined in the Act that established the commission.
This has been so for over five years, accumulating to huge domes of money and thereby retarding development of the region which is being ravaged and degraded by the activities of oil exploration and exploitation.
It is based on this backdrop that accolades are pouring on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for intervening, through the effort of the Managing Director of the NDDC, in ensuring that the oil firms paid the levies owed the commission.
The Niger Delta Development Monitoring Group (NIDDEMOG) headed by the Executive Director, Chief Nengi James-Eriworio is one of the bodies commending the EFCC for recovering N83.59 billion and $98.07 million outstanding statutory levies owed the NDDC by some oil companies.
The two separate funds totaling N216.95 billion is part of the three per cent statutory levy payable to the NDDC by oil companies operating in the Niger Delta.
According to an EFCC investigation report, an audit by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) had identified N90.046 billion and $229.534 million in outstanding NDDC levies covering the period from 2015 to 2020.
Reacting to the development in a statement issued on Friday, James-Eriworio described the recovery as a welcome development, saying oil companies operating in the region had failed to meet their statutory obligations to the NDDC.
James-Eriworio who holds the national honour of the Order Of the Niger (OON) said it was unacceptable that companies expected to contribute to the development of the Niger Delta were withholding funds meant to support development projects in the region.
According to him, oil-producing communities have continued to bear the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of oil exploration and production, including pollution, degradation of farmlands and waterways, and the destruction of traditional means of livelihood.
The NIDDEMOG also commended the NDDC management, led by its Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, for pursuing the recovery of unremitted statutory funds owed the commission.
He equally praised the National Assembly for exercising its oversight powers in facilitating the recovery through the EFCC.
Chief Nengi James, however, urged the NDDC to ensure that the recovered funds were transparently deployed to projects and programmes capable of producing measurable improvements in the lives of people across the Niger Delta.
He called for priority attention to environmental challenges confronting the region, particularly erosion, shoreline degradation, ocean encroachment and other forms of ecological damage.
He said the commission should also strengthen its human capital and infrastructure development programmes to ensure that communities derive tangible benefits from the statutory resources meant for their development.
The executive director who is also the immediate former Vice President of Ijaw National Congress (INC) further urged communities in the Niger Delta to protect NDDC projects located in their areas, warning against the vandalism and theft of public infrastructure.
He called on the NDDC to sanction communities where projects and public amenities were deliberately vandalised or stripped of their facilities.
“It is despicable to see public infrastructure being vandalised and stolen with reckless abandon in communities across the Niger Delta,” he said, stressing that community ownership and protection were essential to sustaining development projects in the region.
