Decades after it was established, the Niger Delta Development Commission [NDDC] which was established as an interventionist agency and left under the control and supervision of The Presidency, as provided for in the NDDC Act 2000, is yet to find its proper footing. The people who are supposed to benefit from the huge sum allocated to the commission are yet to feel the impact of the commission.
This is largely because President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration which promised to fight and bring an end corruption and malfeasance in the commission, has continued to look away, allowing those who are supposed to direct affairs in the commission, to help themselves with the spoils of the office, while development needs are ignored.
Since 2019 when the former minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio caused the commission to be taken away from The Presidency and kept illegally, under the control of the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, things had fallen apart in the NDDC and things have never been the same.
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The decision to put the NDDC under the ministry of Niger Delta has clearly altered the spirit and letters of the Act establishing the commission. Players in the Niger Delta ministry now see the commission as a pot of soup that should be leaked dry.
It has become so bad that a permanent secretary in the ministry can cause an official in the ministry to summon staff of the NDDC for a meeting via text messages, even without the permission of the minister. Already the minister, Obong Umana Okon Umana has cried out over what he calls the mess in the commission.
But if media reports are anything to go by, then the NDDC may need the intervention of someone in the mould of an angel, to put things right.
All these are happening at a time that the commission has operated without a governing board as provided for in the NDDC Act. Officials of the ministry of Niger Delta Affairs appear to have taken over the duties of the governing board. This is sad, very sad indeed.
Although, the new minister has given a hint about a possible constitution of the board of the NDDC. But his words do not appear to have been properly and genuinely electrified. The constitution of a board for the NDDC is already long overdue. Perhaps, if the commission were to have a board, the brazen looting of funds belonging to the NDDC might have been reduced. A situation where a top official of the ministry would include names of the ministry’s staff for inclusion in certain entitlements reserved for NDDC staff is an anomaly. But that is what has been happening.
It is our considered opinion that the new minister should make haste and initiate the processes for the return of the NDDC to The Presidency. That is the right thing to do.
We also believe that there should be no further delay in constituting a board for the commission. Anything short of this would mean that the new minister is ready to continue with the sins committed by his predecessor against the people of the Niger Delta.
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We urge the new minister to take steps to correct the wrongs of the past. If he has already pointed out, that the NDDC is in a mess, he should back up his words with action and do the right things, so that the commission can resurrect and begin to serve the development needs of the region. Enough of the brazen rape of the Niger Delta people by people who masquerade as government officials.
