[News] Why Niger Delta governors instigated our probe, by NDDC By Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt) and Inemesit Akpan-Nsoh (Uyo) 21 October 2019

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 [FILES] Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia (left); Emeka Ihedioha (Imo); Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Nyesom Wike (Rivers); President Muhammadu Buhari; Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa; Deputy Governor Philip Shuaibu of Edo State; and his Akwa Ibom counterpart, Moses Ekpo, during a meeting on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board at the State House in Abuja …recently. PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA

Why Niger Delta governors instigated our probe, by NDDC

By Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt) and Inemesit Akpan-Nsoh (Uyo)

21 October 2019   |   4:30 am

• Accuses governors of plotting to takeover commission • ‘Presidency must probe petroleum development fund’

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) yesterday accused governors of the Niger Delta region of plotting to hijack the commission.

It made the allegation following last week’s order by President Muhammadu Buhari calling for a forensic audit of the commission from 2001 to 2019.

“With the amount of money that the Federal Government has religiously allocated to the NDDC, we will like to see the results on the ground. Those that are responsible for that have to explain certain issues,” Buhari said on Thursday when he received a delegation of the state executives led by the governor of Bayelsa, Seriake Dickson.

“The projects said to have been done must be verifiable,” Buhari said further, adding: “You just cannot say you spent so much billions and when the place is visited, one cannot see the structures that have been done. The consultants must also prove that they are competent.”

Also, briefing reporters after the meeting, Dickson had said: “We came to have interactions with the president and senior officials of his government on our concerns about developments in the Niger Delta. We also discussed fears and what we know is going on in the NDDC which is a critical agency.”

But the NDDC said there was more to the meeting between the governors and Buhari than met the eyes. Its Head Corporate Affairs Charles Odili told The Guardian: “You remember that the governors who went there (Aso Villa), necessitating that reaction, were from the opposition party. And so, such things are necessary fallouts when they have an opportunity to meet Mr. President.

“They want to control the commission. But it does not work that way. It is a natural thing for a president to ask that we look into the financial records of any organisation that is under the presidency. It is not about corruption.”

A civil society source that has been pushing for the investigation said the Federal Government might deploy the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had been probing the past two managements of the NDDC.

The presidency had reportedly been bombarded with petitions in the past five years over allegations of unwholesome activities at the NDDC. Some of these include the award of shoddy contracts and project abandonment.