Despite Huge Corruption Godswill Akpabio Claims He Repositioned NDDC
Despite failing to constitute a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has claimed that he “effectively repositioned the agency to meet its core mandate.”
The minister made this claim while declaring his aspiration for the office of the president of Nigeria in 2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Ikot Ekpene Stadium, Akwa Ibom State, on Wednesday.
A new board is yet to be constituted for the Commission after the dissolution of the previous one by President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2020.
But Mr Akpabio, whose ministry oversees the interventionist agency, described his achievements – completion of abandoned projects – as an “uncommon feat.”
“As a Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, we have completed Projects abandoned for decades and thought to be beyond salvage,” he said.
“We have had key projects commissioned by Mr President. This uncommon feat was achieved through the support of Mr President.
“We have effectively repositioned NDDC to meet its core mandate.”
Corruption haven
The NDDC has been enmeshed in several contract-related scandals and sundry allegations of mismanagement of funds.
To sanitise the system, a forensic audit team was set up to scrutinise the operations of the agency.
Mr Akpabio had claimed that a substantive board for the Commission would be constituted once the forensic auditors concluded their work and submitted their reports.
Failure
In his reaction to Mr Akpabio’s claim, the executive director “We the People”, a non-governmental organisation based in the Niger Delta, Ken Henshaw, told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview on Friday that NDDC has failed woefully under Mr Akpabio.
Mr Henshaw lamented how Mr Akpabio continues to direct the affairs of the NDDC with no regard for extant rules, citing example of the appointment of a ‘sole administrator’ for the agency.
“If you doubt me check reports of past panels of enquiry, including the recent probe by the National Assembly. What you’d hear are tales of corruption, mismanagement and the rest,” he said.
“It is still the same story of corruption, mismanagement and now a spice of authoritarianism represented by the sole administrator in the Commission.
“It is in the time of Mr Akpabio that we have heard all scandalous corruption including the NDDC sharing money among themselves as covid-19 palliatives.”
Mr Henshaw noted that Mr Akpabio introduced a sole administrator to the commission, an unprecedented development in the history of the agency.
“It is also under Mr Akpabio that the forensic audit was commissioned,” he sad.
“It’s been months and going to a year since the report was concluded and submitted to the president and up till now we’ve not heard a word about the outcome of the report.”
Mr Henshaw also said the agency’s development interventions are weak since there’s no substantive head.
He blamed the presidency for the rot in the NDDC, describing the agency as a “cash cow” used to reward politicians who lost elections in Akwa Ibom State.
He recommended the entrenchment of transparency, accountability and citizen participation into the framework of the Commission as parts of the solution to the challenges of the agency.
Mr Henshaw further urged the Federal Government to release all the entitlements due to the NDDC to ensure optimal performance.
‘Reckless Claim’
On his part, human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, described Mr Akpabio’s statement as “very reckless” because the minister has no evidence to back up such claim.
He said: “Mr Akpabio has turned NDDC to a Caretaker Committee – instead of a Commission established by law; NDDC under Mr Akpabio is now functioning like a Caretaker Committee.
“He has been moving from sole administrator to interim management and what have you contrary to the provision of NDDC establishment Act. They have refused to inaugurate the governing board of NDDC and then in terms of delivery I personally have not felt the impact of this illegal committee or sole administrator or whatever name they choose to give it.”
Mr Effiong who said Mr Akpabio is playing to gallery also accused the presidency of being complicit in constituting the governing board for NDDC.
“Mr Akpabio knows he’s just playing to the gallery but that is Akpabio being Akpabio for you. The minister is just being who he has always been but then you must also not divorce it from the President who is complicit because under the NDDC Act the power to appoint the Commission’s board is rested in the president.
When asked about the way forward for the Commission, Mr Effiong said: “I do not see any way forward as long as Mr Akpabio is still the minister of the Niger Delta Affairs.”
