COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEES OF NIGER DELTA OIL AND GAS PRODUCING AREAS PEN AN OPEN LETTER TO TINUBU
OPEN LETTER TO: PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI.
PRESIDENT ELECT BOLA AHMED TINUBU.
NDDC – WHAT WE MUST DO
1. The appointment and inauguration of the present board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC after a long hiatus had rekindled our hope for a new NDDC. However, if revelations emerging from the commission are anything to go by, our hopes have been dashed as we see business continuing as usual.
The work environment right now in the commission is like that of a cult where files are carried under armpits and other provocative places of the human body all in a bid to do things secretly.
2. It is an open secret that tension enveloped the commission immediately after the board was inaugurated with polarization of camps around particular interests in the board and the management.
The management team sees the governing board as meddlesome interlopers and staff have taken partisan positions around individuals on the board and management.
3. The commission has indeed become adrift for too long and stakeholders can no more stand aloof while the resources are being plundered with reckless abandon.
4. There have been cases of waivers issued to IOC’s over payment of the statutory three percent contribution to as stipulated in the NDDC Act. We now understand that these waivers are now in millions of dollars which have reportedly been shared between personnel of the IOC’s and top officials of the management team.
5. There are also reports of the management team back-dating and awarding unimpactful and unverifiable contracts for the clear purposes of siphoning scarce resources to private pockets. They have the habit of abusing due process with impunity and disregard for the input from the Governing Board.
6. To curb this incessant bickering between the governing board and the management, it is our candid consideration to urge the Federal government to take a critical look at reforming the governance structure of the NDDC for effective service delivery to meet the aspirations of our people.
7. It is on account of this that we are urging government to begin the process of curing this malignant cancer. This cure can begin by extracting the management composition structure (Section 3) (4) of the OMPADEC Decree of 1992, which stipulates that there shall be a Chief Executive of the Commission. This is without ambiguities.
8. Our idea of having an Executive Chairman, as increasingly voiced by stakeholders should be a top priority of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in bequeathing a functional NDDC to the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
9. This envisages a single line management structure comprising of the Executive Chairman, the state representatives, Zonal representatives and an administrative Secretary to make up the board.
10. If Government fails to heed this advise as espoused by stakeholders, then we would have missed a golden opportunity to stop the decline and drift of the commission that is fast becoming comatose. We must do everything within and without to breathe a new life into the NDDC.
11. To all of these we have the implicit confidence that President Muhammadu Buhari will adopt a new approach by strengthening the role of the Chairman as the chief accounting officer and reposition the NDDC to serve the region and it’s people without let.
12. This will be the only sure way to make the region attractive to investors who are now divesting fom the region. There are countless abandoned oilfields scattered in the region whose owners have refused to return to reactivate these fields due largely to apprehension of possible renewed violence in the region.
13. It is the belief of stakeholders that the NDDC should show capacity by putting policies in place to step in and work with government to proffer redeemable and actionable strategies to reverse the divestment that is ongoing.
14. If there are no new investments in the region that means a dearth of revenue for the country and the commission and no new projects would be embarked upon by the commission for the people.
15. Stakeholders call for this reform should not be misconstrued. The call is to strengthen the institution and reposition it to become a global institution that will provide a platform for the development of the region as originally encrypted at the establishment of the NDDC.
16. Once again we urge government to take a helicopter view of our suggestion and do the needful as soon as practicable.
Thank You.
For and on behalf of:
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITIES OF NIGER DELTA OIL AND GAS PRODUCING AREAS. (CDC)
Joseph Ambakederimo,
Executive Chairman Board of Trustees. (CDC)
Dr. Wilson Omene
Chairman Board of Management. (CDC)
Dated 16th April, 2023.