The Social Development Integrated Centre, Social Action, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately inaugurate a substantive governing board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) provided in the NDDC Act 2000 as amended, as his administration is winding down.
This call comes after the Federal Government directed all unexecuted contracts awarded by the Commission between 2000 and December 31, 2019, to be revoked and beneficiary contractors who are yet to mobilize to sites to refund all monies to the NDDC account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
While this step is considered the right move towards promoting accountability in the Commission, Social Action reiterated its call for the swift inauguration of a substantive NDDC Board.
“The people of the Niger Delta regions have suffered years of neglect by the Federal Government and worse even by the NDDC”, said Comfort Agbebaku, Social Action’s Communications Officer in a statement. “That a Commission meant to engender the development of the regions, is enmeshed in corruption and has failed to oversee the proper execution of contracted projects is heartbreaking. This is a sign of a serious structural and administrative problem”.
The group further condemned the use of sole administrators to run the affairs of the NDDC, adding that the successive interim administrations have failed to effectively pilot the activities of the commission which is a clear breach of the NDDC Act as amended, which ensures checks and balances in the commission.
Social Action urged President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfill his promise made on the 24th of June 2021 to inaugurate the NDDC Board after the completion of the Forensic Audit.
“The audit report has been submitted since the 2nd of September, 2021, even though it has not been made public, yet the Board has not been inaugurated. Just as the North East Development Commission (NEDC) has a constituted Board in place in line with its NEDC Act which ensures checks and balances, transparency, accountability, and fair representation amongst its constituent states, we call for the same in the NDDC.
“We further call on the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan to keep to his commitment of ensuring that the Senate is ready to push for the inauguration of a Board in the Commission as it is long overdue. We call that currently the Sole Administrator contraption be terminated as the establishment of a full-fledged management and the Commission’s governing board will bring about transparency and accountability in the Commission and by extension development in the region.
“We call on President Buhari to immediately inaugurate the NDDC Board by living up to his promises of ending corruption and repositioning the commission for greater achievement”, Social Action concluded.
