Stakeholders in the Niger Delta region were divided, Tuesday, over President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-assignment of the supervision of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, from the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
While some applauded the move, describing it as strategic and a well-thought out decision to breathe a new lease of life in the interventionist agency, others said it will not change anything.
Former Provost-Marshal of the Nigerian Army and South-South leader, Brigadier-General Idada Ikponmwen (retd) and the leadership of Benin National Congress, BNC, frowned at the move to place NDDC under the Ministry of Niger Delta.
Ikponmwen told Vanguard on phone: “If the NDDC cannot be effective as a body as it is right now directly under The Presidency, I do not see how it can be more effective when it is put under a minister, who reports to the same person that the NDDC was reporting to directly.”
Renowned Niger Delta activist, Annkio Briggs in Rivers State, said: “It is all part of the deceit by the Federal Government. Whether they keep it in the office of the SGF or Ministry of Niger Delta, it is the same thing and all part of the deceit and it does not make any difference at all.
“They will still be giving and awarding contracts to whoever they like and getting away with not fulfilling the obligation of the contract. I have always stood on the ground that they should release the names of the companies handling the projects, the directors and the particulars of the contract so that the people can hold them accountable.
“Shifting it from one Abuja office to another is not the point, the point is do what you said you will do; I do not care who supervises it since it’s going to be supervised from Abuja,” she added.
Also, Mr. Ledum Mitee, a former President of Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, and former Secretary of Pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum, PANDEF, said, “I do not have problem with the decision of the President to transfer the NDDC to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. It is okay because at least it brings it to terms with what they are trying to do.
“But whatever is going to improve the quality of life for the people, will be okay. That on its own will not ensure quality of life for the people of the region. The issue of politicization of the commission is the problem. The Presidency and those close to them have run the whole system of NDDC as political patronage.
“In my view, all administrations see the commission as an appeasement for certain interests they think is in support of the presidency at a particular time. Therefore, it has not been out to improve the quality of life here, it has always been how do we ‘empower’ friends of the presidency at every time.
“Until this is stopped, NDDC will not add value to the lives of the people of the region. In terms of the administrative structure, it is a good move.”
Former Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and Atta of Ekid, Eket, Akwa Ibom State, Chief Nduese Essien, said the decision would bring positive change in the running of NDDC.
His words: “We have to commend Mr. President for listening to the demands of the people of the Niger Delta region that the commission should be moved from the office of .the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF.
“It is a sensible and right thing that the NDDC should report to the appropriate Ministry which has been created since 2008 because it appears that the loose control by the office of SGF may have been responsible for the ineptitude, ineffectiveness and wastefulness of the NDDC over the years.
“The office of the SGF is already overburdened to have had a good oversight over the activities of the NDDC. So we hope that the ministry will try to clear the mess which had been discovered in the commission and put it on the right course,” he said.
Also, former member of the House of Representatives, and current chairman, governing board of Cross River Basins Development Authority, Eseme Eyiboh described the development as a proactive step towards intervention in the region.
He said: “Taking the NDDC to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs clearly demonstrates the commitment of President Buhari to the development of the Niger Delta.”
Chancellor of the International Society for Social Justice Human Rights, Dr. Jackson Omenazu, on his part, said: “In the first place, NDDC has no business being under the supervision of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. It was an anomaly to place the commission to be under the SGF.
“NDDC is meant to be a concentrated agency in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. The ministry will give it a better supervision because they have the same mandate.
“This decision I think is belated, but it is still timely. The reason is okay that the president needs result to ensure that the quality of life of the people of Niger Delta is improved.
“My charge at this point is that the ministry should not abandon the master plan. They should immediately start implementation process of the master plan for the region and the ministry that is in charge now should ensure comprehensive development of the region.”
Director of Mobilisation of Benin National Congress, BNC, in Edo State, Amadin Idaeho, said: “While applauding and pledging our absolute support for President Buhari’s transparency policy, we wish to profoundly solicit for an immediate and unconditional halting of the proposed subordination of NDDC under the control of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
“It is our opinion that the decision will betray the organic vision of the President Olusegun Obasanjo conception of a germane interventionist agency to rescue the unwholesome decadence, degeneration of oil and gas host communities dwellers, as well as deliberate resuscitation of the orgy of youth unemployment despite the being born into Nigeria’s main national resources yielding geopolitical zone.
“It will be very parochial to put the agency under the ministry as it will obviously eclipse the federal interventionist content of the agency and relegate it to a toy or one moribund wallets of the ministry. We support unreservedly the move by the National Assembly to investigate the questionable pyramid of NDDC indebtedness to contractors, and insist that the agency remain domiciled under the SGF because, it would have been worse if it were under a Ministry.”
Public Relations Officer, Niger Delta Rights Advocates, Darlington Nwauju told one of our reporters: “I don’t think there is any special advantage the people of the Niger Delta stand to gain from the President pushing an ascribed control of NDDC from SGF to the MNDA.
“Look at the history of the NDDC, which came eight years before the Ministry, you find that it came from a Presidential intervention. Therefore, NDDC is on same plane with the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, which came later.
“Together with PAP, these were programmes created for direct supervision of the Presidency to make sure the developmental gaps in the region was closed with the imprimatur of the President and not to subject their actions and interventions to ministerial bureaucracy.”
Coordinator, Niger Delta Peace Coalition, Mr. Zik Gbemre in Delta state, said “The move by President Buhari is quite in order. That those in the past have been doing the wrong thing does not stop a new person from making the necessary corrections.”
“As far as I am concerned, even the Presidential Amnesty Programme, the President equally should have placed under control of the ministry.
“All parastatals of Federal Government are under relevant ministries. You cannot have a Ministry of Niger Delta and you have NDDC and PAP not under such a ministry. That is the proper thing to do.
“Even if the NDDC and PAP predate the ministry, once the ministry was created, it was only imperative that both interventionist agencies come right under the ministry. It doesn’t call for debate,” he said.
However, an All Progressives Congress, APC, stalwart from Cross River State, Chief Obun Ekanem, told Vanguard, “The idea to move the NDDC from the Secretary to Federal Government office to Ministry of Niger Delta was proposed by Pastor Usani Usani and approved by the Federal Executive Council.
“With the decision, commissioners under NDDC will no more award contracts but supervise contracts awarded by the ministry for NDDC.
“That means bringing all the activities of NDDC and ministry under one roof and that will bring efficiency and easy functioning together. I think it is commendable and will bring accountability and effective coordination,” he added.
In Akwa Ibom state, former Commissioner for Rural Development and lawyer, Chief Effiong Abia said, “All these offices are under the president, as such, there is nothing unusual about it. It is a presidential prerogative.
“The president should be focused and not be deterred by the fact that people do not understand some of these things. Leadership is about thinking ahead and knowing what is good for the people.
“It is not about where it is located or supervised from. Performance is the function of human being. It is a function of who is there. It is about the willingness, determination and capacity to succeed,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, a public affairs analyst, Etim Etim, said: “It means the SFG did not have enough time to supervise the agency. Now that it is under a minister and that is a major parastatal in the ministry, the Minister will have full and functional administrative supervision over it.
“I think the Federal Government wants the commission to be better supervised. You can see the Minister has already visited the place. The SFG would not have had the time to visit the place and assessed what they are doing.”
From Delta State, ex-governorship aspirant, Chief Sunny Onuesoke said: “That is the best option I think President Buhari is taking as a part contribution to solve the issues of transparence, accountability and red tapism of the interventionist agency.”
“It will encourage easy data flow between the Ministry of Niger Delta and NDDC. As for me, so long their budgets are different, nothing is wrong. It will drastically reduce duplication of project between the Ministry, South- South states and the commission. As a stakeholder within the region I think is a welcome development.”
On his part, Emmanuel Igbini, national president, Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy, VATLAD, said: “My take is that NDDC ought to be independent and to report directly to the President of Nigeria in order to avoid the many bottlenecks in civil service dominated ministries. “However, in the alternative, it is better to have it under the monitoring of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs as long as the Ministry remains headed only by Nigerians from the Oil Producing Local Government Areas.”
Ijaw leader and Ibibenimowe (Chief Mobilizer) of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West, Delta State, Chief Godspower Gbenekama, said: “It is a welcome development, my only concern is if that will also amount to increase in funding? NDDC and the Ministry of Niger Delta both have their respective funding, with the new arrangement, will that amount extra funding.
“We basically need real funding and let it not be that putting both bodies together will become something that will undo the Niger Delta people. If bringing them together will mean substantial increase in funding, I will buy the idea, especially now that a Niger Deltan is at the helm of affairs in the Ministry of Niger Delta,” he added.
Secretary, PANDEF, Cross River State, Mr Bassey Ekefre, said “where supervision of NDDC is domiciled does not have much impact, what is important is the ability of whoever is in charge of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, to make sure that outsiders do not take over all the contracts. If whoever is in charge does not play the politics involved in making sure that the people in the region get projects, then it will make any difference at all.”
Ijaw youth activist, Mr. Eric Omare, said: “I think that having the NDDC in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs is the proper thing to do in the first place. Recall that when the NDDC was created in the year 2000, there was no Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, hence it made sense to have the NDDC in the office of the SGF at that time.”
Niger Delta environmentalist, Alagoa Morris told Vanguard: “I had advocated in the past that the interventionist agency ought not to be tied down by the usual bureaucracy of government. Hence, for it to be effective as a practical field agency, it has nothing to do being placed under the office of Secretary to the Federal Government. There is so much work left undone in the field, so many milestones to cover and this has to be given all the seriousness, attention and resources required to bridge the lacuna or lost ground.”
Former Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information and Environment and human/environment rights activist, Mr. Iniruo Wills, said: “The President has power under the constitution and specifically under the NDDC Act to superintend over NDDC. In principle, he can exercise that power through any suitable officer or organ he deems fit for the purpose.
“But it is most logical that he does so through the Niger Delta Ministry or Minister. Statutorily, the ministry does not have that power as of right, but only through the President’s said power of overall superintendence, which he has now reportedly delegated to the Ministry that should in turn report to the President. How faithfully or competently the delegated function is performed is a different matter,” he added.
Another Niger Delta stakeholder, Mr. Osteen Igbapike said: “I am not optimistic but pessimistic about the re-deployment of the NDDC from the office of the SGF to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs currently manned by Senator Godswill Akpabio.
“As I heard it from the broadcast of President Buhari this morning to mark the 59th Independence anniversary of our country, the reason given by the President is to “improve the living standards of the people of the Niger Delta through coordinated and appropriate programme. Speaking for Burutu and Ekeremor councils of Delta and Bayelsa states, Akpabio does not have the magic wand to change anything,” Igbapike said.
