NDDC funding: Controversy trails recovery of $5.6bn IOCs debt by FG’s committee
…As Oil firms dare NDDC, allocate equity to host communities
…NDDC justifies accountability with electricity for 5 Ondo LGCs in darkness for 14 years
…Experts call for probe
There is ongoing controversy over the ability of a committee appointed by the Federal Government to recover alleged $5.6billion debt owed by oil firms in the Niger Delta over mismanagement and preference of equity allocation to host communities as shareholders.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, Thursday, announced the constitution of a committee to recover $5.6bn debt owed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Oil firms operating onshore and offshore and gas processing companies operating in the Niger Delta region are required to contribute three percent of their annual budget estimates to the NDDC, to develop the region.
Akpabio disclosed this while chatting with journalists in Abuja, shortly after he received the Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tijani Muhammad-Bande in his office.
The minister disclosed that the committee headed by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed has been mandated by President Muhammadu Buhari to recover the multi-billion dollar debt from oil firms.
He lamented that the Commission can barely pay salaries of staff from what it is getting monthly as a result of the debt being owed by oil and gas firms in the upstream sector.
The Minister added that the debt has also prevented the Commission from undertaking major intervention programmes in the Niger Delta as mandated by the NDDC Act.
According to him, “As I speak now, the federal government has set up a committee headed by the Minister of Finance to recover monies that were owed to the NDDC, and at the last count, about $5.6 billion and about N649 billion are monies owed to the NDDC by oil companies.”
Investigations revealed that most of the firms deliberately refused to pay 3 per cent of their annual budget over lack of transparency and mismanagement of fund by past NDDC administrations.
A senior official of indigenous oil firm disclosed that his firm decided to allocate 3 per cent equity to host community instead of making payment to the NDDC.
“We are at the risk of shut down by youths of our host community since they are not having direct impact of NDDC financing,” he lamented.
Despite the attitude of IOCs, Akpabio justified efficient utilisation of fund by NDDC on the ground that it is set to rescue five local governments of Ondo State in darkness for 14 years.
“The President is expected to commission 132kv substation in Ondo state by January 2022 which will supply power to about 5 local governments that have been in darkness for 14 years,” he disclosed.
However, industry officials said that the Federal Government should extend the recovery of fund not only to IOCs but should include past and present administrations of Ondo State that failed to utilise 13 per cent oil revenue derivation to finance electricity supply to 5 out of 18 local government councils of Ondo State for 14 years.
“It is the height of insensitivity for political leaders to keep those that elected them into office in darkness,” says Dr Johnson Aderibigbe, a Political Scientist.
Receiving Muhammad-Bande, Senator Akpabio said President Muhammadu Buhari would also be commissioning a 1,050-bed hostel in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State by December 30th this year.
The Minister further stated that many projects have been completed in the Niger Delta region while many are still ongoing, such as the East West Road that is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
“We have completed many projects also, the East-West road is ongoing with about 41 bridges and we have moved it from 76 per cent complete that we met on ground to over 82 per cent as I speak now, and I believe that sections 1-4 which is a distance of 338km will be commissioned by Mr President by the End of Next year.
“So, a lot of changes are taking place in the region outside human capital development, we are also involved in skills acquisition, we have built skills acquisition centres in all the 9 states of the Niger Delta, and many of them have been completed,” he said.
