The Senate Committee on Ethics and Privilege is probing allegations of job racketeering in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
Ayo Akinyelure, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions disclosed this to journalists on Thursday, November 24, 2022, at the National Assembly in Abuja.
He said the probe followed a petition accusing the immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Senator Godswill Akpabio and the management of the NDDC of refusing to document the appointments of seven job seekers from Ondo State who legitimately applied and were issued letters of employment to work in the Commission.
Senator Akinyelure, however, said the Ethics Committee has absolved the current Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs Umana Okon Umana of any wrongdoing in the alleged job racketeering and corruption allegations.
EFCC Arrests NDDC Account Director Over Alleged N25 Billion Fraud
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested the director, finance, and account of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Eno Ubi Otu, for the alleged diversion of over N25 billion tax remittances.
The suspect who arrived at the commission in the early hours of Wednesday was still being interrogated as of press time.
A source told the Guardian that the arrest was part of a larger investigation of the forensic audit report of the NDDC.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 authorised a forensic audit of the NDDC following allegations of widespread corruption at the agency.
This was due to reports of how several NDDC projects were abandoned or non-existent despite the release of millions of naira for them.
In September 2021, attorney-general of the federation, Abubakar Malami received the NDDC forensic audit report on behalf of the president.
On December 30, 2021, the President said his administration will recover “every kobo” mismanaged or looted from the commission, adding that culprits will face the wrath of the law.
The Niger Delta minister, Godswill Akpabio, had also said the NDDC was treated like an ATM where officials just went to steal public funds.
It was also gathered that following the audit, contractors who abandoned their projects rushed back to the site to avoid prosecution by the EFCC
A few others were said to have returned all monies paid to them before they left their contracts uncompleted.
The EFCC had beamed its searchlight on the errant contractors in line with Federal Government’s directive after scrutinising NDDC’s forensic report.
On the arrest of Otu, the spokesman of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, could not be reached for confirmation.
NDDC Money Meant For Niger Delta Region Now Being Shared Freely In Abuja – Ijaw Group Cry Out
Ijaw Interest Advocates, IIA, has alleged that the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC monies meant for the development of the Niger Delta region was now being shared freely in Abuja to the detriment of the region.
The group, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Ererebo Yerinmene Salaco, lamented what it desribed as “the ongoing illegality” in the piloting of the affairs of the NDDC by a Sole Administrator, saying that the Commission no longer serve the interest of the people of the oil rich region region.
The group in the statement, decried that; “the region had in the three years of NDDC being administered by Interim Managements/Sole Administrator become retrogressive and returned back to the dark days of under development.
“During the tenure of former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, the NDDC was traded out to cabals within the Presidency due to selfish Presidential ambition to the detriment of the Niger Delta region.
“The commission is no longer serving the people of Niger Delta, the monies meant for the development of the region are now shared freely in Abuja. The damage caused by Akpabio and the NDDC cabal in the Presidency within the short period of three years is worse than all the years put together from the inception of the commission.
“As we speak, the cabal in the presidency is absolutely in control and has refused to lose grip on the commission to serve the Niger Delta and its people. NDDC is the latest fat cash cow and it’s a conduit pipe where free funds are looted unchallenged.
“Anytime money is released from Abuja to NDDC it usually comes with a long list of fake emergency and desilting jobs from the Abuja cabal contractors, most of them without site, leaving genuine contractors in the Niger Delta to their fate.
“They are working to cancel over 2,000 existing jobs when they have awarded themselves fake fresh jobs in Abuja. In fact, it’s those fake emergency and desilting jobs without site or location they have been paying for in Abuja for almost four years now.
“How can they cancel jobs that are duly awarded when they didn’t mobilise with a penny?. The little efforts the contractors made are still unpaid for; instead, Abuja cabal and the system are busy looting the money meant for the development of the region.
“Some of the looters that created the dislocation of the system with Akpabio and awarded fresh emergency contracts to themselves and got paid in billions without due process, are the same people calling for the cancellation of jobs/contracts that passed through due process of tender bidding with Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and even Federal Executive Council, FEC, approval.
“The monies meant for the all-round development of the region doesn’t get to Niger Delta any longer but are freely shared in Abuja everyday by those that don’t have a cup of crude oil in their backyards. Contractors are crying in Niger Delta, common Niger Deltans are suffering and dying every day while the cabal continues to butcher the money in Abuja without fear yet our people are mute over this injustice that is endangering the future of the Niger Delta.”
The group alleged that; “NDDC has eleven directorates designed for eleven directors but Akpabio for his political ambition, flooded the system with over 60 directors to satisfy his kinsmen.
“Some had triple promotions, some employed as directors, so the entire system is in ruins under the watch of the presidency. Who will now take care of the many bogus allowances meant for the directors?
“He (Akpabio) employed thousands of people from outside the Niger Delta for an agency meant to employ Niger Deltans and to develop the region that has suffered untold age long deprivation. To start with, how many Niger Deltans are employed in the North East Development Commission (NEDC)?”
Source: ChannelsTV
