Nigerians Give Shocking Verdict On NDDC Scandals

By Ayodele Oluwafemi

Controversy has continued to trail of the alleged corruption scandals allegedly prevailing in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

The NDDC was established to oversee the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country, but despite the humongous resources budgeted for the commission, the commission has yet to give traction to the development of the region.

In October 17, 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari had in response ordered a forensic audit of the accounts of the commission from 2001 to 2019, before taking the next line of action.

The move stymied the plans to inaugurate a new board of the commission with those supportive of the inchoate board and those against instigating media war against one another.

The Senate has also set up ad hoc committee to probe the alleged mismanagement of N40 billion by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the commission that was placed by the president.

Over the weekend, allegations of misappropriation and embezzlement of the commission’s resources again appeared in public domain, as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the immediate past managing director of the NDDC, Ms. Joi Nunieh traded allegations and counter allegations of corruption in the commission.

In a related development, Kolawole Johnson, Head of Research, Act for Positive Transformation Initiative, who appeared on Channels Television, on the programme, Sunday Politics, claimed that the commission paid a contractor to organize training in the United Kingdom during the lockdown and that money meant for those sent on foreign scholarship were paid to private accounts.

Social critics have taken to the social media to bemoan the high level of corruption in the commission.

In the midst the controversies in the social media, one Olukayide Olugbemi, a beneficiary of the 2019 NDDC foreign scholarship, who is currently in the United Kingdom, in a video, said the commission has not paid their tuition fees and other allowances for one year, while stressing that some of them are stranded in the UK.

He alleged that beneficiaries of the 2019 NDDC foreign scholarship are two hundred and ten in number and not one thousand as stated by officials of the commission.

See video:

Many Nigerians have called on the Federal Government to abolish the commission as Niger Deltans are not benefitting from the commission due to corruption.

@OgbeniDipo tweeted: “Can’t even remember how much I have lent/given to acquaintances on NDDC scholarship in this UK when their funds were not paid or was late and they couldn’t pay rent or feed. It’s really disgusting and shameful how some of these officials divert, loot and destroy lives.”

@ayosogunro tweeted: “Every agency or project that Nigeria starts to fix corruption or aid poverty eventually causes more corruption and poverty: NDDC, fuel subsidy, EFCC, etc. Because we are ‘fixing’ corruption and poverty while keeping the same political system that creates corruption and poverty.”

@OtunMuri tweeted: “The NDDC is rotten with so much fraud. The EX-MD of NDDC exposed a lot and the Executive Director on Channels TV is finding it difficult to explain the rot. Nig is stinking with so much stealing. Every govt establishment is fraudulent, we are not suprised. Let’s Outsource Nigeria.”

@TosinOlugbenga tweeted: “Akpabio was Governor for 8 yrs, then a Senator,now a Minister.Yet he’s still swimming in corruption. Do you know why he rejected re-contesting for the Senate,when he saw that the money in NDDC available to be stolen is more than what can be stolen in the senate, he opted out.”

@MrOdanz tweeted: “Niger Deltans will spend all day talking about how the North steals their OYEL money to the disadvantage of the South.

But they rarely talk about how elites from the Niger Delta also loot the OYEL money when given the opportunity. Anyway,NDDC spent N81 Billion in just Six Months.”

@MayorSpeaks tweeted: “Watching Politics Today on Channels Tv has driven me into a serious depressed state, The corruption that is been perpetuated in NDDC shows Nigeria is in a very-very-very deep shit.Can Nigeria be Redeemed?”

@iSlimFit tweeted: “The NDDC revelation is a typical case of what happens in every other Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Nigeria. They always create an avenue to enrich their pockets. This country is a mess.”

@SirLeoBDasilva tweeted: “So NDDC sends students abroad then abandons them? First Magu, now NDDC. We wait for more.”

@_SirWilliam_ tweeted: “The Niger Delta does not need a Development Commission. What the Niger Delta needs is the Petroleum Industry Bill to be signed that brings investment to the region. NDDC is nothing but a feudalist rent seeking platform. Sending crooks like Akpabio there was sabotage.”

@HamzyCODE tweeted: “NDDC and other grant corruption in Nigeria can only be dealt with when we do away with dirty partisan politics, face the potentials and realities of the greatness we can achieve as a collective.”

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