The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission,
\nNDDC, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, has accused the committees of the
\nNational Assembly responsible for the oversight the Commission of
\nworking against the forensic audit ordered by President Muhammadu
\nBuhari.<\/p>\n
Addressing a press conference at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt
\nTuesday, Professor Pondei said that the probe being embarked on by the
\nNational Assembly was distracting the Commission from focusing on the
\nforensic audit which all stakeholders, including governors of the nine
\nNiger Delta States, agreed with Mr President as the way forward for the
\nCommission.<\/p>\n
He declared: “We suspect that the probe being trumpeted by the National
\nAssembly is not for altruistic reason but an attempt by some members to
\narm twist the Interim Management Committee.”<\/p>\n
Pondei justified the claim, stating: “We have faced so much pressure
\nfrom some members of the National Assembly not to send certain files to
\nforensic auditors. We fear that this will compromise the integrity of
\nthe exercise and have refused to do their bidding.<\/p>\n
“We have also faced pressure from some members of the National Assembly
\nto pay for 132 jobs which have no proof of execution. We have refused to
\npay out N6.4 billion for those jobs. We believe that an IMC set up as a
\ncleansing structure cannot become part of the old story of rot.”<\/p>\n
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer observed that since the IMC came to
\nmake NDDC better and had a limited mandate till December, it had
\nsummoned the courage its predecessors did not have to tell Nigerians the
\ntruth.<\/p>\n
He lamented: “50 per cent of NDDC’s inability to deliver on its mandate
\nis as a result of the stranglehold of the National Assembly on the
\nCommission.<\/p>\n
“The National Assembly delays passage of the Commission’s budget until
\nit is too late for it to be implemented. The 2019 was passed two months
\nto the end of its implementation period. In fact, the hard copy was
\nreceived by the Commission on April 10, 2020 when the implementation
\nperiod ends on May 31. Given the procurement rules, it is not enough
\ntime to call for tender and execution of the jobs. The statutory period
\nfor advertising tenders is six weeks.<\/p>\n
“Two, the budgets are bastardised by National Assembly in a way that
\nrenders it useless. A case will suffice. In the 2019 budget, we had a
\nprovision of N1.32 billion to pay our counterpart funding to the
\nInternational Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, for the $129.7m
\nLivelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Programme in the Niger Delta
\n(LIFE-ND). The National Assembly cut the provision to N100 million. Are
\nwe going to IFAD, a UN agency, to tell them to bring their $129.7m when
\nour National Assembly says we can only pay N100m out of N1.32 billion
\nobligation?<\/p>\n
“Three, the National Assembly members insert items we had no plans for.
\nThese items are then forced on the Commission when it is not part of the
\nmaster plan. Rather than be a major intervention agency, the Commission
\nis busy erecting street lights and drainages, something local
\ngovernments should do.”<\/p>\n
Pondei explained that at the time the expanded IMC took over on February
\n20, 2020, the 2019 and 2020 budget of the NDDC had already been
\ntransmitted to the National Assembly, noting that the 2019 budget was
\nlaid before the two chambers and it was approved.<\/p>\n
He said, however, that the problem was in harmonization of the budget
\nwhich was to follow the approval. “For that to be done, we were told to
\npay for some contracts. That was relayed to us through the Chairman of
\nthe House of Representatives Committee on NDDC. We waited for the
\nmeeting but it did not take place because we had not paid. On March 17,
\n2020 we managed to pay some and on March 19, 2020 we paid the others.
\nThat was when approval was transmitted to us on March 20, 2020,” Pondei
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He added: “We understand that this had been the regular practice over
\nthe years. You have to accede to the requests of the National Assembly
\nor you don’t have a budget. It was the lack of budget in 2016 and 2017
\nthat led the past administrations in NDDC to device what is now called
\nthe emergency projects. That was the only way they could get some
\nprojects to be executed until it has now become a very big burden.”<\/p>\n
Pondei stressed that until the NDDC returned to the drawing board to
\nwork out a budgetary process that was transparent and free from the
\nstranglehold of the committees of the National Assembly, the problems of
\nthe Commission would persist.<\/p>\n
He stated: “Even if you bring somebody from outer space, if you don’t
\nremove the bottlenecks, the problems with the NDDC budget will persist.
\nI can come here with a vision to put water in every community but you
\napprove a budget without provision for water. How then can I contribute
\nto changing the Niger Delta?<\/p>\n
“Those who are clamouring for the change of members of the IMC miss the
\npoint. Without addressing the flaws of the system, changing people will
\ntake us nowhere. The problem is not who is running the place now, it is
\nthe underlying processes that are rotten and need to be sorted out.”<\/p>\n
The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, has accused the committees of the National Assembly responsible for the oversight the Commission of working…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n