South-south elders have sent a passionate appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari, to immediately relieve the chairperson of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mrs Lauretta Onochie and the managing director, Mr. Samuel Ogbuku, for engaging in a public show of shame barely five months after assuming office over corruption-related issues.
The elders also urged the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to as a matter of urgency, revert the NDDC to the structure of the defunct Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC, by scrapping the offices of the two executive directors and appointing an executive chairman to function alongside State representatives with clearly defined responsibilities.
In an open letter to outgoing President Buhari and President-elect, Bola Tinubu, titled, “Time to Restructure NDDC, Sack Onochie, Ogbuku, the elders noted the present structure of the interventionist agency was defective from inception, and had fuelled internal wrangling, power tussle and corruption among members of the Board, rendering the Commission ineffective.
“Egocentrism among appointees into successive Boards of the NDDC since its inception had resulted in perennial internal squabbles and power tussles between either the chairperson of the Board and the managing director, or amongst the MD, Executive Director, Finance and Accounts (EDFA) or Executive Director, Projects, EDP. But operating like pirates in power and cutting corners as they battle for prime seats on the looting train, the current managing director and the Board’s chairperson engaged in scandalous exposes and hurling of brickbats within a short span after assuming office, scoring a new low and nauseating narrative of the Commission. Sadly, the battle is all about who will control and loot the resources of the interventionist agency and not how to develop the pauperized oil bearing communities in the Niger Delta”, the letter dated 23rd May, 2023 and signed by Chief Jolomi Ande and Dr Benedict Akparanta, Chairman and Secretary-General respectively of the Forum, read in part.
Describing recent allegations of breach of financial regulations and counter allegations between Ogbuku and Onochie at the National Assembly as sordid, the elders expressed shock that the two top officials of the NDDC have scored a new low and nauseating narrative for the Commission within a short period of assuming office.
“On Friday, 19th May, 2023, the MD, Samuel Ogbuku and chairperson of the Board, Lauretta Onochie, had a dirty fight at the National Assembly, engaging in sordid exchanges at the Senate Committee investigative hearing on unauthorized spending of the 2021 and 2022 budget of the Commission without approval by the National Assembly. While Ogbuku reportedly accused Onochie of over stepping her bounds by desperately seeking to be a signatory to NDDC’s accounts, she alleged, among others, that Ogboku and the Commission’s management were operating 367 bank accounts all in foreign exchange (FOREX) in breach of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy of the Federal Government, an initiative which requires the operation of a unified structure of Government bank accounts in a single account or a set of linked accounts for all Government payments and receipts.
“Onochie had further accused Ogbuku of increasing the monthly imprest for his office from N4 Billion to N10 Billion, a disclosure that has triggered shock and angst across the Niger Delta. It is pertinent to note that in response to Onochie’s expose on the operation of multiple bank accounts, the EDFA, Mr. Charles Airhiavere who represented Ogbuku at the session, admitted to the operation of four bank accounts.
“Mr President, a few weeks earlier, the NDDC chairperson had publicly disowned a $15 billion memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the management of the Commission and Atlanta Global Resources Inc., a US-based firm. The deal, which was reportedly signed on Tuesday, 18th April, 2023, is for the construction of a mega rail line that would connect the nine states of the Niger Delta region.
“Interestingly, Onoche dismissed the signing of the MOU as not only suspect but dubious, alleging that, “The “US company”, Atlanta Global Resources Inc., has no expertise nor experience in any form of construction, let alone Railway construction. This company is a Management and Export Consulting Firm without known notable Directors”.
“To be sure, the MOU signed for the proposed rail line is a big scam. The NDDC management claims no contract has been signed, but they are more interested in the consultancy for the rail project and feasibility studies from which they will rake in millions of US Dollars into their pockets. We shall not be fooled this time around. Unfortunately, the National Assembly is also hands in glove with them in this heist at the NDDC, collecting huge sums in kickbacks from funds accruing to the Agency”, the letter further read.
The South-south elders alleged that presently, contractors are being compelled to cough out 30 per cent as kick-back before payments are made for contracts already completed and duly certified for payment, while massively awarding “emergency jobs” to line their pockets, just as hosting seminars in Lagos have also become another channel of milking funds instead of holding such events within the Niger Delta, wasting humongous resources which could be used to provide boreholes and primary health care facilities in some communities in the region.
emerging show of shame between the chairperson, Mrs Lauretta Onochie and MD, Chief Samuel Ogbuku would have been avoided. Unfortunately, hapless inhabitants of oil bearing communities are now being dressed with the toga of a people who are uncoordinated, disunited and anti-development; engaging in financial malfeasance whenever they are entrusted with public funds for the development of their region.
“The NDDC should revert to the structure of the defunct Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), with an executive chairman, secretary and the State representatives driving the process with clearly defined responsibilities, and the oil producing communities directing benefitting from funds accruing to the Commission. The present structure of the NDDC with a non executive chairman of the Board, MD, two executive directors and State representatives had not worked from inception and it is time for it to be jettisoned in the interest of the Niger Delta people. The panacea to enduring peace and stability in the Niger Delta is the immediate restructuring of the NDDC to chart a new roadmap for development of oil bearing and other communities in the region. And this time around, we shall not relent in our efforts at reclaiming the NDDC for it to be refocused for the benefit of our people”.
