Alleged N81.5bn NDDC Sleaze: South-South Elders Forum insists on judicial inquiry

High Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, National Coordinator of the South-South Elders Forum and a Trustee of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has reiterated calls on the Federal Government to set up a judicial panel of inquiry with a view to probing allegations of corruption at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

   In an exclusive interview with The Daily Times, Sara-Igbe said: “We are not happy and that was why we said there should be a forensic audit. Now that this thing has degenerated to where we are today, we are calling for a Judicial Commission of Inquiry so that all the communities, all the people involved will come out and testify to what has happened in the Niger Delta region for the past 20 years.”

   According to him, “the forensic audit should be superintended by the Auditor-General of the Federation who has the statutory power to investigate, audit, and recommend on the activities of government agencies. And he should be given the free hand to appoint reputable and respected forensic auditors.

   “Not every auditor is a forensic auditor. We have forensic experts. As an Accountant-General, he knows who the best in the industry are. We want auditors that will not compromise. We want auditors that cannot be bribed. We want auditors that cannot be influenced. We want transparency and openness. This is the kind of audit we want.”

   He noted that “with the kind of dance we have seen between the management of NDDC and the National Assembly, we are appealing to Mr. President to authorise the EFCC to wade into the matter, so that the bogus amount of money we have been hearing has been spent, we will be able to know the truth and trace them to where they are.

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   “He should also direct the ICPC, which has authority over public officers to know which of the public officers committed what, with a view of bringing all the actors who have committed crime to book. This is the honest desire of the Niger Delta people. Mr. President was voted for, not because he belonged to a party, but because Nigerians, at the time, felt he would fight corruption. The Niger Delta people want him to fight this corruption in the region.”

    He said: “Some are calling for the scrapping of NDDC and we understand that there are some forces that are insisting and even have made their proposition to Mr. President to also scrap Amnesty. Please, that should not be done because we will go back to where we are coming from. I don’t think any president worth his salt will like the economy to be destroyed at this time of international and national economic strangulation.

   “So, as a people, we are appealing to Mr. President to intervene in this crisis so that peace will be restored and development will come, so that he will be in the good books of the Niger Delta, we want his name written in gold. At least, we remember Yar’Adua for Amnesty and the Niger Delta Ministry. So, for Buhari to be accepted, because we see him as one of us, because he grew up in this part of the country in one form or the other, he must listen to us. If he cannot help us, then, who will help us?

   “Again, we also blame the government for the woes of the Niger Delta because when they want to appoint people into an office like this, they shouldn’t bring people who don’t know how the institution was set up. He should be able to find out those who fought for institutions, those who know the worth of the institutions, those who know why these institutions were set up so that they will be able to achieve the purpose of the institutions. Don’t just bring anybody who doesn’t know anything. They will just go there to fill their pockets. That is just it.”

   Sara-Igbe added: “We know in the region right from the past 20 years that most of these jobs were cornered by the members of the National Assembly, from inception, right from 20 years. That is why PANDEF, the original group, supported Mr. President. We decided that a forensic audit should be taken, not just now but from inception till date. We expected that by now, the audit must have been concluded.

   “But rather than conclude the audit what we are seeing now is macabre dance between National Assembly and the Interim Management Committee (IMC). First, the IMC was set up and the National Assembly was not happy with it, so they fought back. The NDDC was taken from the Presidency to the Ministry of Niger Delta. They also fought back because it means there will be no business as usual. This is because the NDDC, at a point, turned into a place where politicians would deep their hands and take money to play politics, rather than doing what the Commission was set up for. 

   “Today, if you go to the Niger Delta oil-bearing communities and pipeline communities, most of them still live in squalor. In my community, Kula, for example, NDDC had two projects for the past 26 years. These two projects have not seen the light of the day. One of the contractors made little efforts and ran away with the money after collecting 45 per cent of the contract sum. The second one never dropped a grain of sand. He never dropped equipment, but had also collected 45 per cent of the contract sum and disappeared into thin air. We have been shouting and shouting but nobody listened to us. Nobody cared. These are the situations in the Niger Delta. Rather than developing the oil-bearing communities, the money is being shared by the operators.”