Presidential order for probe of NDDC will help expose real enemies of Niger Delta, James

By Ihesiulo Grace 24 October 2019 12 No comment

Bassey James is President of the Southern Youths Development Forum (SYDF), a security expert and criminologist, he is also the founder, Southern Atlantic Polytechnic, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

A man with passion for the development of the Niger Delta and Nigeria, he told PATRICK OKOHUE in this interview why he is excited about the order of President Muhammadu Buhari for the probe of the activities of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

He appeals to the President to also extend such probe to the Amnesty Programme for repentant militants in the region and then scrap the amnesty programme.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been in the news lately for the wrong reasons and the President has now ordered a probe into how funds allocated to the interventionist agency has been spent in the last few years, as a stakeholder in the Niger Delta how will you describe this development?

I give kudos to the President, by this action the President has become the hero of the Niger Delta, he has danced his way to the hearts of the Niger Delta people, Mr. President has shown capacity, today there is jubilation, there is celebration across the Niger Delta region.

Immediately after the pronouncement the Niger Deltans were happy, from Akwa Ibom to Abia, Abia to every corner of the Niger Delta our people are jubilating.

Because the NDDC has become a thorn on the flesh of the Niger Delta people, it has become a place anybody goes to steal our collective resources, NDDC has become a place where something akin to day light robbery is taking place.

So, for me, Mr. President is now a great friend of the Niger Delta people and we are going to pay him back in whatever way we can, because this singular act of Mr. President has given hope to Nigerians, has given hope to the Niger Delta people that Mr. President means well for Nigeria and for the Niger Delta people.

As a major stakeholder in Niger Delta we have watched how from OMPADEC to the NDDC is being used as a tool to siphon the money of the Niger Delta people, while the masses of our people are suffering in pains. There is no road, there is politics everywhere, the high level of decadence is very worrying.

But, the agency has been promoting its achievements over time. Are you saying what they have been doing is not commensurate with what they have been getting?

Nothing, what you see on television is a repetition of the jobs and contracts that have been executed. I have access to NDDC, I am from the Niger Delta, from the gate of the agency you can see the level of decay, you will see the masses of the people waiting and crying at the gate.

I am against the continuous display of the nonsense on radio and television. At a point we would even have called for the scrapping of the NDDC, because it became a tool for political manipulation and indecency,

so for me I think this is the best thing that has ever happened to us in the history of this country, as I am talking to you I am the happiest man today, because when we talk about development in the Niger Delta,

when we talk about insecurity, about the disconnect, about the suffering of the people of the Niger Delta, why was the NDDC created? It was created to solve the problem of the Niger Delta people.

Over the years several governments have pumped in billions and trillions and nothing can be seen, just like the President said, it is like they threw the money into the Niger Delta Ocean.

I am from Akwa Ibom State, the connecting road to Abia, Abia to Imo, to Ogoni, as I am talking to you today, all the roads are bad, go around the Niger Delta states,

you will not see serious development that is done by the NDDC, if it was set for the purpose of settling the problems of the political elites of the Niger Delta, Mr. President would have ensured that.

I want to use this opportunity to appeal to Mr. President that the NDDC should not be handed over to those who are in politics and that the probe should be extended to OMPADEC, because we know the story of the NDDC,

there is so much money that those running the NDDC don’t know what to do, they are richer than the entire Niger Delta people, those who ran NDDC in the past became so powerful, so rich,

go to the nine states that form the NDDC you will see that those who had the responsibility of running the NDDC have made so much money.

Only recently the EFCC arrested a Personal Assistant to a Managing Director of the NDDC, because of what was discovered in his house, so for me every Niger Delta person should celebrate Mr. President, and we want every kobo to be recovered,

the managers, the directors, the operators of the NDDC should be investigated, beyond the auditing Mr. President should have another form of recovering,

where the Niger Delta people should begin to point out houses that individuals that have come into NDDC have built, they came in poor and left the place with trillions.

Why do you want Nigeria to break up? – Oshiomhole

Does what you are saying now not give credence to what people have been saying that the problem of the Niger Delta may not necessarily be the Federal Government but the people of the Niger Delta, because people appointed to manage the NDDC are people from the Niger Delta?

There are two ways to this issue, the Federal Government, not necessarily under President Buhari, we know that there are Federal Government representatives in the NDDC which should not have been and we also know that there are lots of external influences cornering contracts and jobs,

people sit and give instructions to the operators to give them contracts, that is what Mr. President should look at, who are the beneficiaries and Mr. President should order that all benefitting companies in the NDDC should be published for Niger Delta people to see.

The names of the Directors, the amount of jobs given and their states of origin, you will discover that there are a lot of influences, people that are not from Niger Delta.

From the gate you can feel the injustices in NDDC, as you enter the NDDC you will cry, because there are more none indigenes from the gates of the NDDC, making billions and millions and when the indigenes go they don’t have access.

So, there is the need to probe and recover the total money spent, those who are not from Niger Delta who are beneficiaries of our commonwealth should vomit the money.

Some people are saying it is a political issue that it will die down, but we are saying no, this is one President that is not corrupt, Nigerians are happy and they voted for him,

so now that he has made this announcement, we are asking Mr. President, let the names of those who have done contracts with the NDDC be published,

let the names of the external manipulators be published, let all contracts, all jobs that has ever been given in NDDC be published for Nigerians to see and if any of them is found guilty such operator should be declared the enemy of the Niger Delta people.

If those saddled with the responsibility of managing the NDDC are people of the Niger Delta, do you blame outsiders who came to benefit under the watchful eyes of the Niger Delta people, isn’t it the people of the regions who opened the doors to outsiders who should really be declared the enemies of the Niger Delta?

our people are our enemies, yes they are the ones that opened the doors for others to come in and oppress our people, but whether they are Niger Delta people or not what we want is our money, we want the Federal Government to recover every penny they have stolen, because they stole the NDDC dry and something must be done.

You see the masses must now wake up to support Mr. President, the entire NDDC states should come up, the student unions, the general public regardless of political party, whether APC or PDP or whatever party, we are not talking party today, we want to recover our money.

When the Senate wanted to probe the NDDC I had fears, because it was going to be under politics and the fear of the Niger Delta people was that the Senate will not give us justice, because there are political interests, besides who knows who is who, afterall they have a committee that oversee the NDDC,

but we want our money back from all those who have been in the NDDC, government should recover up to the pins in their rooms if illegally acquired with NDDC money, everything they stole from the Niger Delta people should be recovered.

Why are people suffering in the midst of so much resources, the billions and trillions of naira that has been given to Niger Delta has never translated into anything tangible for the people of the Niger Delta, there is so much suffering amidst plenty.

NDDC budget for two years is enough to transform the whole of the Niger Delta, what are we asking for, good roads, schools, health facilities, even the roads that the NDDC executed are poorly done just as Mr. President has noticed, so we need to recover all the money.

There is now move to remove the NDDC from under the presidency to the Ministry of the Niger Delta, do you think that will be a welcome development?

I think that is a welcome development, because I believe there should be somebody to supervise that agency of government, you cannot create an agency and allow the operators to do whatever they like,

there must be checks and balances, there has never been checks and balances in the agency, some people have been directors in particular offices for God knows when, no movement so the NDDC have become a place where money is siphoned,

the agency has made billionaires and trillionaires, yet the people of the Niger Delta are suffering, so somebody must begin to supervise them.

There is the NDDC and there is the Amnesty office and these are agencies where the Federal Government put money for the interest of the people of the Niger Delta, do you think the Amnesty programme is still necessary?

No, it is no longer necessary, Mr. President should scrap the amnesty programme and put the money meant for them into the banks in the nine states of the Niger Delta, not to the governors.

If you are qualified and you have capacity and you want to do something and you are from the Niger Delta you should be able to access a soft loan from those banks.

Today the amnesty money is political money that you give to anybody. For example, I am from Akwa Ibom State, I am from the place that has oil,

but I have never seen anybody from my place benefit from the amnesty programme, Akwa Ibom people are not benefitting from the amnesty, it is only given to a particular set of people from the Niger Delta.

Must everybody carry guns, must everybody be violent, must everybody break oil pipelines, the more you pay the money the more you continue to have problems, if you stop the amnesty today there will be agitations,

so the government should bring some of us to proffer solution and the solution is scrap the amnesty programme today and audit the account of the amnesty office and you will discover the billions that have been stolen.

So, what should Mr. President do? This is what he should do, whatever money you want to give as amnesty money for the people of the Niger Delta, let it go through the banks and let it not go through the influence of any political party or governors,

call the bank MDs tell them I am going to put a N100 billion of amnesty money into your bank, but accessible to those who have something to do from the Niger Delta,

because many names may even be on the list of the amnesty people who are not from Niger Delta and they are using Niger Delta to fund so many things in Nigeria and I want to appeal that just as you audit the account of the NDDC, Mr. President should also order the immediate audit of the amnesty programme and scrap it, audit and scrap and transfer the money to banks.

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