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NDDC donates Relief Materials to Abia State Govt
From Linus Effiong Umuahia
The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has donated assorted food items and medical equipment and consumables as support to the State Government in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
Inspecting the relief materials at Okeikpe, Abia State Headquarters of NDDC, the Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, eulogized NDDC for their milk of kindness, adding that their gesture would go a long way in supporting the less privileged and vulnerable persons in the state.
The Governor who was represented by the Secretary to Abia State Government and Chairman, Inter- Ministerial Committee on Covid-19, Barr Chris Ezem, reiterated that these palliatives would be evenly distributed to the less privileged, using Churches, local government authorities, Royal Fathers, Presidents General of town unions; to reach the targeted people.
Barr Ezem restated that the war against the covid-19 should not be left in the hands of the government alone, stressing that everyone should take responsibility by observing all safety protocols and measures rolled out by government and health professionals.
The SSG tasked NDDC officials to let Abia State Government have the lists of the health centers completed by them, so that the state government will take immediate steps to make these health centers operational.
Earlier in his speech, the Acting Director, NDDC, Abia State, Engr. O’Hara Raymond, said as part of it’s corporate social responsibility, it is incumbent on the Commission to assist Abia state to overcome the challenge of the moment.
He then went ahead to announce the donation of assorted medical facilities, such as digital thermometer, hospital beds, wheel chairs, Detol, toilet rolls, and other hospital consumables.
On food items, he handed over 1,044 bags of rice,272 bags of beans, 296 bags of Harris, 1,881 cartons of noodles, 893 cartons of biscuits and 92 gallons of palm oil.
Engr. Ogara however, alleged that the local government authorities were reluctant to take over basic health facilities built by NDDC in the region.
Adding his voice, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Joe Osuiji, praised the kind disposition of NDDC towards the state, adding that medical facilities would be judiciously deployed forthwith.
The Commissioner for Science and Technology, Barr Chijioke Madumere, Commissioner of Petroleum, Chief Ikpechukwu Onuoha, ASOPED Chairman, Chief Sam Nwogu, Special Adviser on Agriculture to the governor, Pastor Ikpechukwu Dike, T.C Chairman of Ukwa West LGA Chief S. Nwaji among other top government officials were present during the handover of these relief materials.
July 11, 2020
Senate begins probe of N80 billion NDDC fund
The Nigerian senate has commenced a probe of allegation of misappropriation of the sum of N80 billion leveled against the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
While declaring open an investigative public hearing on the matter, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, said such alleged financial recklessness cannot be condoned by the lawmakers and stressed the need for the prudent application of public funds by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs).
“We are in trying times when we all have to be concerned about the judicious use of scarce incomes. The NDDC is supposed to improve the lot of the Niger Delta community. It is unacceptable to hear about inappropriate use of resources or outright financial recklessness,” he said and urged all concerned work with the ad-hoc committee and assured Nigerians of the Senate’s commitment to fairness and transparency.
“This public hearing should further help the committee get more information, to enable them come to a pleasant conclusion on the facts on the ground, before reporting back to the Senate”, he added.
Responding, the Committee Chairman, Olubunmi Adetumbi, said the panel seeks to “investigate all financially related allegations, mismanagement and misappropriation and the breach of the extant procurement processes as enshrined in the public procurement Act 2007.”
July 10, 2020
N81bn financial recklessness allegation in NDDC unacceptable -Lawan
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, says financial recklessness allegation and misappropriation of N81 billion leveled against the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) are unacceptable.
Lawan, who was represented by Deputy Senate Leader, Ajayi Boroffice, stated this on Thursday, while declaring open an investigative Public Hearing by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on the Investigation of the Alleged Financial Recklessness in the NDDC.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the senate on May 5, set up the ad hoc committee to investigate the IMC of the NDDC over alleged misappropriation of N81 billion.
Lawan said that the NDDC was an important statutory agency that was supposed to improve the lot of the Niger Delta community.
“It is therefore unacceptable to hear about inappropriate use of resources or outright financial recklessness,” he said.
The president of the senate who underscored the need for prudent application of public funds by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) emphasised that same had become imperative in view of scarce income at the disposal of the Federal Government.
“Financial recklessness is not an attribute that anyone can afford, whether rich or poor. It is even worse with the poor, or for the organisation or a country with limited resources.
“This is the reason we have always highlighted the need for prudence in the application of public resources.
“The time when public resources is seen as nobody’s resources is long gone. We are in trying times, when we all have to be concerned about judicious use of scarce incomes.
“The NDDC is an important statutory agency that is supposed to improve the lot of the Niger Delta community.
“It is therefore unacceptable to hear about inappropriate use of resources, or outright financial recklessness,” Lawan said.
According to him, the weighty allegations of misappropriation of public funds to the tune of N81 billion by the IMC of the NDDC prompted the upper chamber to investigate the commission.
While urging stakeholders present at the hearing to cooperate with the ad-hoc committee, Lawan assured the public of the senate’s commitment to fairness and transparency in the discharge of its constitutional responsibility.
“This senate is a responsive Senate, and it is partly the reason we made up this all-important committee in our sitting on Tuesday, May 5, to investigate the alleged financial recklessness at the NDDC.
“I am happy the ad hoc committee has made excellent progress by requesting and receiving vital information from identified stakeholders.
“This public hearing should further help the committee get more information, to enable them come to a pleasant conclusion on the facts on ground, before reporting back to the senate.
“I have trust in the ability of this committee to do the right thing, but I add that you all have to cooperate with them and be open-minded and frank with your submissions.
“The senate will be fair to all. Our aim is to get all evidence, to make excellent decisions, to benefit the citizens. Your cooperation is therefore very important,” Lawan said.
Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Olubunmi Adetumbi said that the panel in line with its mandate, sought “to holistically investigate all financially related allegations, mismanagement and misappropriation and the breach of the extant procurement processes as enshrined in the public procurement Act 2007.”
The lawmaker added that, “the exercise is not aimed at witch-hunting any individual, groups, persons or institutions, but to rather get at the root of the matter, that will aid in repositioning the NDDC to effectively deliver on the mandate on which it was established.
“It is also to block leakages of financial mismanagement as well as promote the effective utilisation of its resources for the overall development of the people of the Niger Delta region,” he added. (NAN)
July 9, 2020
NDDC affirms distribution of medical equipment to Niger Delta States
Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei says the commission distributed sophisticated medical equipment as part of its contributions to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking during an audience with the leadership of the Niger Delta Youth Council at the Golden Tulip Hotel, Port Harcourt, Prof Pondei explained that the intervention of the NDDC in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, came in three parts; namely: supply of medical equipment, provision of palliatives and public enlightenment.
He stated: “Before the COVID-19 lockdown, we had applied for approval through the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for COVID-19 intervention. The major part of it was medical equipment, then the second part was palliatives (food items) the third part involved publicity.
“Approval was given by the Federal Executive Council, and the approval letter asked us to inform the Federal Bureau of Public Procurement, since it was an emergency. It clearly stated in the letter to expeditiously do that at the end of all this. We have distributed the medical equipment to all the nine states in the Niger Delta region.
“The medical equipment included ventilators, mobile x-ray machines and PCR machines which are the only things that have not been distributed due to the fact that we are trying to work with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC to increase the testing capacity in the Niger Delta region.”
The NDDC boss said the commission was supposed to calibrate and deploy the 54 PCR machines and mobile x-rays, which he said were not available in many hospitals in the region.
Pondei stated that the frequent changes of management was effecting the performance of the NDDC, noting that on account of the changes, payment to contractors were often delayed even when they have achieved agreed milestones.
“Frequent change of management cannot bring the kind of development we are looking for in the Niger Delta,” he said.
He stated that the Interim Management Committee, IMC, had not awarded any other contracts apart from the ones with presidential approval, explaining that “what we met was historical debts. The first payments we made for contracts were the ones the National Assembly asked us to pay. And most of these debts were historic debts. We have not done any illegal payments. We have paid people who were owed.”
He conceded that the National Assembly had the constitutional right to investigate the operations of the NDDC. He, however, appealed to the lawmakers to also extend their oversight function to helping the NDDC to get the oil companies to meet their statutory obligations to the Commission.
Addressing the issue of payments for the NDDC Permanent headquarters, Prof Pondei noted that the building was started by the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC, and in 2010 the board of the NDDC decided to terminate the contract. To make this possible, N500 million was approved by the Federal Executive Council to buy off the previous contractor.
June 22, 2020
NDDC, Reps replies Edwin Clark
The Chairman, Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission, House of Representatives, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has challenged the Interim Management Committee of the commission to show proof that the National Assembly is frustrating its activities.
Tunji-Ojo, while reacting to a petition filed by the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Ijaw National Congress, Chief Edwin Clark, challenged the management of the NDDC to approach anti-corruption agencies with evidence that he or other members of his panel are corrupt.
Clark had petitioned the National Assembly, asking its leadership to remove and investigate the chairmen of its committees in charge of NDDC probe.
In an ‘open letter’ dated June 1, 2020, Clark had called on the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila to remove the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi; and House Committee on NDDC, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and investigate the allegations of corruption leveled against them by the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC.
Both the Senate and the House had on May 5, 2020, separately resolved to investigate the alleged extra-budgetary spending by the NDDC amounting to N40bn.
Reacting to the letter, Tunji-Ojo dismissed the allegations as untrue, challenging NDDC management to provide evidence to back the corruption claim, challenging it to approach anti-graft agencies with them.
He said, “I want to state very clearly that Baba Edwin Clark is our revered leader, not just to the Niger Delta but also to Nigeria. He is a man that has committed so much towards the development of the Niger Delta. But the point that I personally disagree with is the issue of documentary evidence and delay of the budget.
“I have challenged the IMC more than three times on all media platforms, that if there is any documentary evidence against me, they should either bring it out or petition and submit such to the relevant government anti-corruption agencies. After all, I am a lawmaker and I do not enjoy any immunity. So, if there is any proof, they should act and stop throwing tantrums.”
June 4, 2020
NDDC: Auditor General raised queries on payments made to Rodnab and the contract itself
We have read the dubious statements published in The Vanguard newspaper of Friday, May 22, 2020, and credited to Rodnab Construction Limited wherein it claimed that the queries from the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation in respect of the contract awarded to it for the completion of the head office building of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was non-existent. It is clear that what Rodnab and its patrons are trying to do is to win public sympathy and change the narrative against the backdrop of the probe by the National Assembly of the fraudulent deals perpetrated by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC under the supervision of Chief Godswill Akpabio, Minister for Niger Delta Affairs.
We wish to restate that the office of the Auditor General of the Federation indeed carried out an audit on the NDDC and produced a detailed report a copy of which was forwarded to the Commission for its necessary action. It is clear that Rodnab is a fraudulent company, which evidence is clear in the published reports of the Auditor General of the Federation, and like the companies that have been linked to the fraudulent payments running into several billions of naira, it should not even rear its ugly face anywhere. We believe that even if they were not copied officially, Rodnab must have been informed of this by its collaborators in the IMC and they cannot deny this because the report was duly forwarded to the NDDC for its necessary action.
We are not surprised that Rodnab has taken this route to be clever-by-half when the fact of the matter is that it has benefitted fraudulently from the abuse of financial regulations by the current minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Godswill Akpabio, and the interim management committee of the NDDC, by collecting full payment for the headquarters building which is not yet completed. As we will show in excerpts of the OAGF report, there were no evidences that Rodnab was properly awarded the contract. Also, it was clear that the company was being used to withdraw funds from the NDDC by corrupt elements, who duplicated jobs already included in the main contract for the head office building and awarded them to other companies. It is, therefore, a blatant lie if Rodnab claims that it is unaware of these infractions, being a favoured contractor in the NDDC under Akpabio.
The OAGF report was revelatory in detail and scathing in conclusion, practically stating that the contract awarded to Rodnab did not follow due process because there was no such evidence in the books of the NDDC. For the avoidance of doubt and for the interest of mischief makers who may want to contest this fact, it is a mandate of the office of the Auditor-General to ‘carry out statutory function including value-for-money expended to ascertain the level of the economy, effectiveness and efficiency from a government project.’ It has a statutory responsibility to audit all government ministries departments and agencies (MDAs).
On the NDDC headquarter building under the heading under Issue 43 in its report titled, ‘Irregularities in the contract for the completion of the Niger Delta Development Commission Headquarters Building, Port Harcourt, Rivers State – N16,222,492,843.76’, the OAGF reported significant non-compliance with extant Procurement and financial regulations. It noted ‘Under Findings’ that “The contract was awarded to Messrs Rodnab Construction Limited through Ref. No NDDC/HQ/EDP/UIDW/RV/WAT/PR/17/083 at a contract sum of N16,222,492,843.76. From the documents made available to the team, there was no evidence of authorities and approvals like minutes of appropriate tender Board meeting to back up these upward reviews. Also, there was no evidence of ratification/adoption of these actions by the NDDC board or other appropriate boards. Also observed and very important on the letter of award to Messrs Rodnab Construction Limited reference was made to the NDDC management as the approving authority for these contracts. However, these approvals could not be produced for team verification. It added that “purported additional works with different values were added to the contract sum from time to time that finally jerked up the worth to N16,222,492,843.76. No priced Bill of Quantities (BOQ) was presented.”
It explained that the “BOQ states the quality in terms of specifications and quantity of materials and their costs in project execution. In order to confer legitimacy to the huge expenditure outlay of the projects executed in tandem with government policy, the BOQ of the above-stated project should have been produced for audit review to satisfy Financial Regulation 109(d) which states that ‘the Auditor General shall carry out statutory function including value-for-money expended to ascertain the level of the economy, effectiveness and efficiency from government project.’ ”
Among other opaque transactions which give the impression that Rodnab was a vehicle for fraudulent transactions in the NDDC, the Auditor General’s report noted that some payments made to the company could not be defended. For instance, “Interim Payment Certificate No 2 in the sum of N3,059,661,429.45 was raised in favour of the contractor on the 18th October 2018. A perusal of the valuation report for this certificate showed that out of N978,877,500.00 released under the preliminary item of the project, N107,875,000.00 was said to be paid as part payment for an insurance policy. However, the insurance policy obtained, the property or persons covered by the policy and the premium paid by the contractor amounting to the N107,875,000 claimed in this certificate could not be traced.” Neither could it trace N230m certified paid for the provision of supervision vehicle, maintenance, driver, license insurance as “both the vehicle and evidence of its purchase were not available for verification.”
It concluded on the contract awarded to Rodnab Construction Limited that, “it was, therefore, difficult to carry out a proper evaluation of the job done for this purpose neither was certain that the value for the sum of N16,222,492,843.76 on the completion of Niger Delta Development Commission Headquarters Building merited the project.”
Rather than pursue further the query raised by the Auditor General’s office and demand the recovery of money illegally paid out for jobs not done, Chief Godswill Akpabio on becoming Minister of Niger Delta ordered that the company be paid in full even when it had not finished the project. This and the Auditor General’s report are the crux of the allegations of favouritism and disregard for financial rules that whistleblowers raised against Akpabio, the IMC and Rodnab.
Those in the know insist that as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio had engaged Rodnab Construction in the state and they have a more than a fiduciary relationship on which basis he bends and breaks the rules for the company in the NDDC. In fact, it was stated clearly that at the point Rodnab got the job from the NDDC, the headquarter building was about 65 percent complete and the Commission’s own valuers had estimated that the remaining job should cost no more than N6 billion. Yet it was given the job at N16.2 billion. That may explain why no Bills of Quantities were included in the contract award to Rodnab because the job is overpriced.
One of the issues raised by Rodnab was that the company was not queried by the OAGF, but it needs to be understood that the OAGF does not deal with contractors or third Persons but with MDAs, who have a duty to rectify the issues raised in the queries, including the recovery of overpayments to contractors, in this case, Rodnab. Going by the company’s statement, those queries were not raised with it as expected but glossed over by Akpabio and the IMC, perhaps because Akpabio was in a hurry to get his piece of the cake.
Of course, we are aware that Akpabio and the IMC have been spending the last few weeks generating and falsifying copious ‘records’ to cover up this and several other fraudulent transactions they have undertaken, which is why we ask the National Assembly committees to demand records from all relevant institutions including the OAGF and CBN in its quest to unravel the fraudulent dealings in the NDDC under Akpabio and his IMC.
Damian Nwikinaka
Director of Research and Strategy
May 22, 2020
The IMC dangerous moves in NDDC
We want to alert Nigerians to the continued desecration of the administrative guidelines for government-owned institutions as provided for in the civil service appointment, promotion and discipline rules by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
While the compulsory leave and retirement handed some staff some weeks back caused a lot of furore across Nigeria, as the reasons were unconventional, the IMC appears not content, even dismissive of the questions raised by concerned Niger Deltans and Nigerians, as it goes ahead to distort the administrative guidelines at the Commission by promoting staff without interview or tests as provided for in the civil service rules.
It is important to know that as an agency of the federal government the NDDC is duty bound to abide by the general civil service rules where appointments, promotions and discipline follow laid-down procedures and are not subject to the whims of the management. Since NDDC was established 20 years ago, no management has tried to distort this position until the current interim management led by Prof D.K. Pondei.
Prof Daniel Pondei, the acting managing director and head of the IMC was reported by The Nation newspaper of Saturday May 16, 2020, to have told the Presidential Monitoring Committee led by Akpabio that some of those who were asked to proceed on indefinite leave pending the outcome of the so-called forensic audit were indicted persons. In his words, as reported by the newspaper, “Following the advice of the Lead Consultant on the Forensic Audit exercise, the Commission placed certain members of staff on mandatory leave with full benefits, pending the conclusion and outcome of the on-going forensic audit. Some of the affected staff were those already indicted by anti-corruption agencies like the EFCC for acts of financial impropriety and corruption and whose continuous presence at their duty posts could interfere, impair, undermine or compromise the objective of the forensic audit exercise.”
It is interesting that the IMC has tried to spin the story of the sack of the senior staff from those who held top offices and could compromise the audit to those who have been indicted by the EFCC. The points to ask are: At what point were these staffers indicted by the EFCC? When did the EFCC investigate the said staff or the NDDC during which they were indicted? How did the so-called forensic audit firm get to be the one advising the IMC that staff of the agency have been indicted? The minister and his IMC are pathological liars who bend the truth at every opportunity to perfect their selfish agenda at the NDDC.
Some senior staff who were asked to go have just a few years left in service. Public Service Rule (PSR) No 020810 provides for the retirement of a civil servant who has attained the age of 60 years or 35 years in service but the IMC directed civil servants who have two more years or less to stay in service to proceed on compulsory retirement. The IMC first gave the impression that it only asked the affected staff to go on paid-leave for the duration of the so-called forensic-audit. And then a fresh reason surfaced: some of those asked to go have been indicted by the EFCC! Does Pondei know the meaning of Indictment? How can someone indicted for so long, a civil servant, still be in office? Even if that were so, under Rule 030301 of Section 3 of PSR which deals with misconduct, an officer must be informed in writing of the specific act of wrong doing or the improper behaviour inimical to the image of the organization charged against him which must be investigated and proved before any disciplinary action can be taken against him. In this case, we do not even know those indicted let alone whether there have been queries issued to anyone preparatory to action taken.
We have noticed the lies that have spewed from the IMC and we have observed the role played by the minister of Niger Delta, His Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio, in all these manipulations going on at the NDDC because he wants to bring in people personally loyal to him. He has said this himself at meetings with staff where he was castigating the staff as disloyal to him and accusing us of revealing the goings on at the Commission but we never thought it will get to the position where he would discard the rules of engagement. This is what he has done with the treatment of staff at the Commission.
Yet the latest is the arbitrary promotion of staff at the NDDC, with letters distributed to staff between April and early May 2020, without formal tests or interviews as have been the practice. While the Civil Service Rules/Guidelines which guide Ministries Departments and Agencies in the public sector provides that staff on Grade Levels 8 – 14 must spend three years on a position before promotion and those on Levels 15 – 17 four years, this rule has been thrashed by Akpabio and the interim management who even gave their favoured staff who have not spent the prescribed number of years double promotion, all without interview or test. What the minister has established at the NDDC using his rubberstamp IMC are two classes of staff – those who are favoured by Akpabio because they have been recruited for his personal agenda and the rest of us who dutifully follow our jobs without eye service.
The incestuous Governance structure put in place by Akpabio makes nonsense of any kind of checks and administrative oversight. This is because in addition to the fact that he nominated the IMC members, he is the Chairman of the Presidential Monitoring Committee, he is also the Supervising Minister and a member of the Advisory Committee. So, in all, when the Presidential Monitoring Committee gives the IMC a clean bill like they did during the advertised visit to the Commission reported by The Nation, it is like Akpabio giving himself a pass mark after directing all the actions of the Commission! This is why we welcome wholeheartedly the National Assembly committees that have been asked to investigate the sharp practices in the NDDC as part of their oversight functions.
What we have experienced is that the NDDC today is run by a four man clique of Akpabio; the acting MD Prof Pondei; Dr Cairo Ojugboh, who is the acting executive director projects; and Chief Bassey Eteng who is the acting executive director finance and administration; the rest of the IMC members and members of the Committees are like passengers made to give validation to the actions of the minister and the IMC. Yet, some of them are now speaking up, because in the end their reputation will go down with the others. After Dr Nunieh granted the interview where she spoke on how Akpabio was breathing down her neck to abuse due process in the payment of contractors and other administrative matters, one member of the IMC, who was just appointed into the expanded Committee in February, was reported by The Sun newspaper as saying that she has had nothing to do with the IMC for about two months yet money was being withdrawn in her name.
According to the Sun newspaper of Saturday May 16, 2020: “Nagbo, in a telephone interview, said she had been away in the last two months in Abuja in the COVID-19 lockdown, noting that her functions have been carried out by the Special Adviser (SA) on Youths without her knowledge.” The newspaper continued that, “But, I just saw that when decision for financial transaction, or financial decision of the commission is being taken, I am not called for such meeting. “I have not done any women’s programme in the commission. I have not done any youths’ programme in the commission. Nobody can show anywhere in the press, where I have been seen doing women or youths’ programme.” This is the state of the NDDC under Akpabio today, where even some members of the IMC are complaining of being sidelined and being threatened by hired killers.
The same thing he has done with staff but because by the civil service rules we cannot talk publicly we suffer in silence. Many staff are being threatened by some of Akpabio’s people who are angry that the fraudulent deals by the minister and the IMC have been exposed, including threats to life. This is highly unbecoming because it is something we have never seen until Akpabio was appointed Minister of Niger Delta to supervise the NDDC.
The Civil Service Rules are very clear on the discipline of staff, yet Akpabio and the interim management have ignored them the way the minister ignored the NDDC Act that provides for a Governing Board, not an Interim Management Committee. While we cannot reveal ourselves because we are civil servants we are expectantly waiting for the investigation by the Senate and House of Representatives Committees to put a stop to these unwholesome practices by Akpabio and his interim management committee.
Signed
Concerned Staff of NDDC
May 18, 2020
Reps summon Akpabio over alleged fraud in NDDC
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, is to appear before the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission over an alleged N40 billion spent in two months by the commission.
The Deputy Leader of the House, Peter Akpatason, is from the Niger Delta region and the sponsor of the motion which accused the NDDC of having spent N40 billion without due regard to the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
He also seeks the appearance of the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC to explain the plan to ameliorate the effect of the present economic situation on the region.
The House has mandated its relevant committee to conduct a comprehensive investigation into all procurements and financial transactions of the commission for the fiscal year to ascertain compliance with relevant
provisions of the law.
May 8, 2020
NDDC attributes office project delay to Covid-19
Port Harcourt, March 16, 2020 The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has attributed the delay on completion of its new headquarters to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic affecting many countries.
The commission said the global pandemic had delayed its importation into the country of materials and essential components needed for the project.
Dr Cairo Ojougboh, NDDC Acting Executive Director of Project, stated this in a statement on Monday in Port Harcourt by the commission’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili.
According to him, the delay had affected the March 31 project completion date set by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the commission.
“The completion of the headquarters is no longer feasible because of the delay in importing materials already paid for due to Covid-19 pandemic.
“Based on the assessment of the situation, the contractor handling the project has affirmed that building would be handed over to us by April 30.
“We will hold the contractor liable to this deadline; just as we urge the contractor to to continue not to let the commission down,” he said.
The executive director expressed satisfaction with the pace and quality of work on the new NDDC office complex.
The Project Consultant, Mr Ebiwene Bozimo was quoted in the statement to having assured the commission of delivering the project on or before April 30.
“So, while we await the importation of materials, every task that does not involve anything external is going on at the highest pace on site,” he said.
March 16, 2020
Clark stopped militants’ revolt against NDDC interim management
Elder Statesman and South-South leader, Senator Edwin Clark, has quietly intervened and prevailed on some angry militants in the Niger Delta Delta, threatening to lock up the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, over the continued operation of the Interim Management Committee, IMC, to abandon the option. Vanguard learned that the action of the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, has brought respite to NDDC operations.Clark could not be reached for comment on his role, but reliable sources confirmed that he, indeed, used his influence, as a Niger Delta leader, to invite and speak to some of the agitators to allow NDDC interim management work without trouble. Vanguard could not confirm if any member of the NDDC interim management committee or other top government officials requested his assistance. to them on phone and a number of them face to face, according to sources.. One of the vocal groups, 21st Century Youths for Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience, which led a coalition of Niger Delta youths to lay siege to NDDC Headquarters in Port Harcourt, last month, was among the group’s the elder statesman lobbied. Leader of the group, self-styled “General” Izon Ebi, told Vanguard: “In pursuit of development and ensuring a prosperous Niger Delta for our children and the unborn generation, we received a clarion call from an elder statesman, Pa E.K. Clark to give peace a chance.’ “He implored us to ensure that the interim board carries out its oversight function without hitches and distractions to enable the auditing firm do their job speedily and transparently since its mandate is to supervise the audit of the commission effectively and transparently, to set a clean template for the incoming board to hit the ground running with its developmental vision for the Niger Delta. “We respect him as the leader of Niger Delta, but we want to appeal to the interim board to make known the international auditors saddled with the probe and publish in our national dailies the names and companies involved in the despicable looting of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC. ”They should also make known also in national dailies staff and directors that are involved in facilitating this inhuman action “After a critical and frank discussion with our elder statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, to give peace a chance and tow the part of peace because without peace there will be no development, and since the interim board is saddled with the responsibility of supervising the audit and probe to set a clean template for the confirmed board to be inaugurated, our stance has always been on the side of peace, development and justice because without justice, there will be no permanent peace and development. “The 21st-century youths of the Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience call on Mr President to ensure that his good gesture for the Niger Delta is not politicised to smear his goodwill. “We therefore use this medium to applaud Mr President for his new year’s gift of hope and determination to redirect the ship of the nation to its destined harbour of unity, peace and progress. We commend and salute your courage of coming out to exonerate yourself of the third term plot to extend your stay beyond 2023. “We also commend and applaud your courage and sincerity on the directive given to the INEC Chairman and the Inspector General of Police to henceforth conduct credible elections. “We, therefore, use this opportunity to plead to our President, Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari to please kindly take a critical look at these three very important issues that will mar or bring to light his good intention. “Sincerity and commitment to alleviate the plight of the people, put a stop to the primitive, callous and wicked leaders that have impoverished the people of the Niger Delta with 15trillion down the drain and nothing to show for. “Your good intention to strengthen our electoral institutions to enable the people to choose leaders they can trust with their future and collective destiny is worth commending.”
January 29, 2020