NDDC fraud: Nigerians suffering brunt of institutional failures
Fraud within the bloc of Nigeria’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been well pronounced. The ugly concept has seen developmental courses suffering deeply, as funds meant for their execution fall victim to kleptomaniacs who are hell bent on sapping the commonwealth for their personal selfish interests. The plight many have suffered from the gaps of developmental deficits, left unaddressed by reason of fraudulent tendencies, have to the degree of the negative effects revealed the depth of the impact of public officers in a government appearing as a kleptocracy. The suffering of the masses — who are largely bearing the brunt of the kleptocracy — gives no less reflection to such acts of corruption as nothing but diabolic, despicable and villain postures at the height of wickednessness. It has become mindblowing that the gaps for which purposes developmental funds fraudulently diverted, are meant to address, have occasioned conditions making life unbearable for many.
It is apparent that the scourge of the endemic disease has not left any part of the Country out. One part in case, has been the Niger-Delta region. The plight of natives within this region would rightly be seen as the height of thoughtlessness of villain individuals, who at the detriment of others, seek nothing but their own aggrandisement. At a critical point, the mismanagement of funds meant for the development of the oil rich region is a case of concern. The region which is known to be the honey-pot of the nation, despite its fortune, is known to be worn out and ridden with troubles. The environmental hazards of the impacts of oil exploration are known to have formed clogging limitations to other industrial, commercial and more particularly, agrarian and artisanal activities.
The grievances of natives of the region to protest the degradation of their habitats, without commensurate compensation, had once informed agitations, which at some point gave the region a red zone imagery. Turned out with agitations, the need for settlement had brought in the necessity to create institutional structures to address the grievances with established patterns. The necessity brought in the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs accompanied with an Agency known as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as institutional responses to addressing the defecting controversies.
While such institutional frameworks are known to be justifiable and pragmatic in their formative objectives, it is saddening that the injustice of corruption has belittled the relevance of same. At the height of irresponsibility, high profile fraudulent cases have been taking resonating records. The noised case of the diversion of N81.5billion in 2020 had attracted much attention to the NNDC. Probes on the case is known not to have redressed the case till date.
Another recent case has seen the Senate summoning the management of the NDDC over alleged contracts scam put at N100 billion. Senator Matthew Urhoghide, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Edo State-led Senate Committee on Public Accounts probing the NDDC, had said that it will personalise any refund that would be traceable to an individual during the Investigative hearing. Speaking on the development, Senator Urhoghide had lamented that it was painful that over N100 billion was spent on contracts by the NDDC without justification for the spending. The Senate Committee is relying on special periodic checks on the activities and programmes of the NDDC, for the period – 1st January 2013 to 30th June 2018. The Senate Committee discovered that the contract for a surveillance was not subjected to open competitive bidding according to Public Procurement Act 2007 24 (1).
In a meeting of the Committee, Senator Urhoghide who disclosed that the Committee has invited the NDDC to come and appear before it on Wednesday, had said, “We have invited NDDC to come, they don’t have records of financial transaction. They will appear before us on Wednesday. They have 47 queries and we are going at it. The issue is from 1 to 47 and we are going to personalise any refund. It is painful that N100 billion were spent without justification for it. We equally invite them for status enquiry on all revenue into their accounts. We are waiting for the NDDC, if they don’t come, we will take necessary action against them.”
The queries had partly read, “It was observed that so many contractors were paid mobilisation fee to enable them to commence the execution of the projects awarded to them. Contrary to the terms and agreement some of the contractors bolter away after collection of the mobilisation fees. The surprising aspect of it was that this practice involved 626 contractors in which the sum of N61.4 billion was lost to fraudulent practices. Irregularities in the execution of a contract awarded for the construction of Gbaregolor-Gbekbot-Ogulagha road phase worth N16.1 billion.
“It was observed from the payment documents that between January 2017 and June 2018 that the sum of N698 million were expended or transferred to private security consultants for the ‘Regional Security’ Surveillance of NDDC projects in Niger Delta. The committee is relying on special period check of the commission between 2013-2018 by the Auditor General of the Federation. The Senate Committee discovered that the contract for the surveillance was not subjected to open competitive bidding according to Public Procurement Act 2007 24 (1).”
The query read further: “It was observed from the payment documents that between January 2017 and June 2018 that the sum of N698 million were expended or transferred to private security consultants for the “Regional Security” Surveillance of NDDC projects in Niger Delta. The audit team made relentless efforts to sight the contract files of the security consultants with the view to verifying the term of engagement and the NSCDC clearance but proved abortive. Thus, making it very difficult, if not impossible to verify this claim as many of the purported private security consultants are not security outfits. Therefore, these are viewed as payment for services not executed contrary to Financial Regulations 708&3104. The Management should ensure that the consultants refund the sum of N689 million and furnish the office of the Auditor General for the Federation with evidence of recovery for authentication.”
The NDDC has remained in the limelight of various fraud allegations. In 2020, a seeming face-off with the National Assembly had lingered with allegations and counter-allegations over misappropriation of the Commission’s fund to the tune of N81.5billion. The probe over the allegations of the misappropriation of the said sum had been shrouded with deep controversies which may cluster the entire process and infuse more clumsiness to render the whole process a stalemate. The controversies surrounding the issue of misappropriation of the funds in the Commission took a dramatic turn when allegations made by the erstwhile acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr Joi Nunieh, against the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, over misappropriation of funds ordered by him, took an ugly face. Amidst invitation to answer to the allegations before the National Assembly, in June 2020, Akpabio had alleged that larger part of the Commission’s contracts under contention were awarded to members of the National Assembly. Among the series of drama saw the Director, Legal Services, NDDC, Peter Clever Okoro Esq., then in a letter dated July 28 addressed to Dr. Joi Nunieh, giving her seven days to refund a sum of N1.96 billion in compliance with the order of the Senate. Later at the floor of the House of the Representatives was a complex drama with another set of allegation of fraud leveled against the then Chairman of the House probing Committe, Hon. Tunji-Ojo, and other members of the Green Chamber who were accused of benefiting from contracts by the then Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC. The then acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, had accused Tunji-Ojo of corrupt practices in the commission. The development had informed his excuse from the probe.
The NDDC fraud saga is manifestly just one among hundreds of other high profile corruption cases in Nigeria. The orientation of operations in the Country, particularly in the public spheres of authorities, require an overhauling of the operating systems of administration to reveal the thousands of loopholes which are being exploited by selfish personalities in public offices for personal self aggrandisement against the good of the commonwealth.
Just as institutional framework to foster developmental courses, such as those of the NDDC, are essential instruments to drive the quest of socio-economic development, it is paramount to state that mere establishing them to run affairs does not suffice to achieve the intended objectives. To make them bear the relevance of their formation, the need for monitoring mechanisms to ensure accountability towards virility of productivity, in the best standard obtainable, is a necessity that must not be shelved aside.
Leaving critical MDAs to operate in limbo without close check for proactive measures to guide against inclinations of corruption, is a reflection of insensitivity to good governance. Such inertia has only resulted into the logs of misappropriation, diversions and depth of frauds taking place within the confines of MDAs. The distance view approach of monitoring MDAs has only left behind such unsavoury narratives as seen in the NDDC’s case. Collapsing the trend in all MDAs together, bearing nexus to providing services and projects for development courses, have only left the Country aback in its development journey.
It has now become paramount for all supervising bodies, including the National Assembly as the legislative organ of the Government bestowed with the duty of oversight functions and the top echelons of the executive, to walk with alacrity to the necessity of developing structural mechanisms with systemic control to foreclose the ravaging cankerworm of inclinations of fraud and corruption within MDAs, which have been frustrating developmental courses and thus, eating down the fabrics of nationhood.
The role of the presidency in this necessity, as the highest supervising body of the executive framework in the Country, is sine qua non. A docile posture to such deficiencies from this quarter, speaks volume to reflect a system of free hand where despicable acts of corruption can find their ugliness. It has thus, become imperative for all supervising bodies, particularly of the Federal Government to rise to the task, as the ravaging impacts are leaving behind relics of estate paramount for national development.
