Lawan Raises Hope for Inauguration of NDDC’ Board

The ongoing illegality of the Interim Management Committees/Sole Administrator contraptions administering NDDC since October 2019 in breach of the law, NDDC Act, has obviously become a national embarrassment. Out of grave concern for its potential negative impact on the legacy of not only President Buhari but also the nation’s 9th National Assembly, the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, last week, in Abuja made a firm commitment to push for the inauguration of the NDDC’s substantive Board “without further delay,” writes Nseobong Okon-Ekong

Last week the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, rose to the occasion to ensure compliance with the law, the NDDC Act, in administering the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), by stating the Senate’s readiness to push for the inauguration of the Commission’s substantive Board “without further delay.” He received unending praise from the authentic Niger Delta stakeholders. According to a story in a national newspaper of March 7, 2022 titled “Senate set to deal with NDDC situation –Lawan,” the Senate President was quoted as saying that “we should also deal with the situation in the NDDC. It is long overdue. This is one interventionist agency that should be run much more efficiently. I believe now that the forensic audit is over, we should have the NDDC run properly.

Let there be full-fledged management and the governing board so that our people in the Niger Delta will continue to get the attention that made the NDDC to be established in the first place.” This exemplary leadership act is in sync with the checks and balances desirable for our Presidential system of democratic governance as spelt out in the nation’s 1999 Constitution (as amended).Under the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) the National Assembly is empowered to oversight activities of the executive branch of government. In particular, Section 88 (1) of the constitution (as amended), confers on the National Assembly the power of oversight into – (a) any matter or thing with respect to which it has power to make laws, and (b) the conduct of affairs of any person, authority, ministry or government department charged, or intended to be charged, with the duty of or responsibility for – (i) executing or administering laws enacted by National Assembly, and (ii) disbursing or administering monies appropriated or to be appropriated by the National Assembly. This is why the Senate has a responsibility to push for the NDDC to be administered in accordance with the law, the NDDC Act, by working to ensure the termination of the illegal sole administrator contraption and make certain the inauguration of a substantive Board, for the benefit of the nine constituent states. 

In commending the Senate President, the Niger Delta Peoples’ Forum (NDPF) noted that the most salient issue concerning the administration of NDDC and which the authentic stakeholders of the Niger Delta have consistently demanded, and which even the President had promised and made commitments on is to end the illegal Interim Management / Sole Administratorship at the NDDC and inaugurate the Board of the Commission upon receipt of the forensic audit, in compliance with the law, and which promise he made to the nation on June 24, 2021 when he received the leadership of Ijaw National Congress (INC) in Aso Rock, Abuja. 

The President said: ‘‘Based on the mismanagement that had previously bedeviled the NDDC, a forensic audit was set up and the result is expected by the end of July, 2021. I want to assure you that as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted, the NDDC Board will be inaugurated.” The Forensic audit report has been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari since seven months ago, on September 2, 2021. 

The Niger Delta Peoples’ Forum reminded the Senate President that the continued administration of the NDDC by Interim management committee / sole administrator is illegal because the NDDC Act has no provision for this illegality as the NDDC Act only provides that the Board and Management of the NDDC at any point in time should follow the provisions of the law which states that the Board and management is to be appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. According to the group, nobody is supposed to begin to administer the NDDC and utilize the huge funds accruing to it on a monthly basis without passing through this legal requirement as stipulated in the NDDC Act. The situation currently in NDDC, which has subsisted for over two years, is that the illegal Sole Administrator is both Managing Director, Executive Director of Finance, and Executive Director Projects, in clear breach of NDDC Act which ensures separation of these duties to ensure checks and balances. 

The continued illegality of the interim management committees/sole administrator contraptions administering NDDC since October 2019 in breach of the law, NDDC Act, is a national embarrassment that should be of grave concern to not only President Buhari but also the nation’s National Assembly led by Dr. Ahmad Lawan. The Niger Delta Peoples’ Forum also drew the Senate President’s attention to North East Development Commission (NEDC) stating that whereas the NEDC has been allowed to function with its duly constituted Board in place in line with its NEDC Act thereby ensuring proper corporate governance, accountability, checks and balances and fair representation of its constituent states, the NDDC on the other hand has been run arbitrarily in the last two years by Interim committees/sole administrator in breach of the NDDC Act. 

President Muhammadu Buhari had in exercise of his constitutional powers forwarded to the Senate for confirmation, the appointment of a 16 – member board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) via a letter dated 18th October, 2019, personally signed by him. The President’s letter read: “In accordance with the provision of Section 2(2)(a) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) (Establishment) Act, 2000, I write to forward, for confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the under listed nominees for appointment into the NDDC board, to occupy the positions indicated against their names.”

President Buhari, in the letter, expressed hope that “the Senate will consider and confirm the nominees in the usual expeditious manner.” Accordingly, the written request, which was read on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 by its President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, was given expeditious consideration by the upper legislative chamber, which directed its Standing Committee on Niger Delta, to screen all the nominees and report back within a week.

The Senate screened and confirmed the appointments of 15 out of the 16 nominees on Tuesday, November 5, 2019, based on the report tabled before it by the Committee on Niger Delta. However, after the appointees were vetted by all relevant agencies of the federal government, screened and confirmed by the Nigerian Senate on the 5th of November 2019, President Buhari asked that the inauguration of the Board should be put on hold pending the completion of the forensic audit, for which an Interim Management Committee was appointed for the NDDC.  

The Federal Government announced during the inauguration ceremony of the IMC that the Senate-confirmed NDDC Board will be inaugurated after the forensic audit. It is against this background that the Senate President has declared that “I believe now that the forensic audit is over, we should have the NDDC run properly. Let there be full-fledged management and the governing board so that our people in the Niger Delta will continue to get the attention that made the NDDC to be established in the first place.”

 The Senate’s renewed vigour to push for the inauguration of NDDC Board, in accordance with the law is in tandem with unending calls, demands and peaceful agitations of youths, men and women, political and traditional leaders and civil society organisations that the inauguration of the board of NDDC will ensure compliance with the NDDC Act, promote and sustain peace, equity and fairness, transparency and accountability, good governance and rapid development and transformation of the Niger Delta Region.

 This is also not the first time that the National Assembly seeks to exercise its oversight function on NDDC. We recall the Senate probe of NDDC in June/July of 2020 which revealed how the NDDC Interim Management Committee (IMC) blew N81.5 billion in just a couple of months on fictitious contracts, frivolities, and in breach of extant financial and public procurement laws.

The Senate therefore passed a resolution recommending that the IMC should refund the sum of N4.923 Billion to the Federation Account, and that the IMC should be disbanded, while the substantive board should be inaugurated to manage the Commission in accordance with the law. Niger Deltans have, over the past two years, endured the abuse of the NDDC Act by the appointment of interim management committees and a sole administrator who are not fully representative of the nine constituent states, and have carried on without regard for due process. 

The people of Niger Delta therefore earnestly await the Senate President to galvanize the National Assembly to push for the inauguration of the NDDC Board, “without further delay,” according to Dr. Ahmad Lawan. Actualizing the inauguration of the NDDC Board will ensure fair representation of the nine Niger Delta constituent states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers; accountability in the utilization of the NDDC funds; checks and balances; and due process in the Commission in compliance with the NDDC Act.