The Godswill Akpabio and ex-NDDC acting MD, Joy Nunieh, imbroglio explained

In the past three months the management of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been embroiled in allegations of massive corruption.

Members of the National Assembly Committee on Niger Delta and the NDDC management as well as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, have been throwing brickbats at one another since the allegations came to public knowledge.

It started with allegations of mismanagement of funds which has always been the bane of the commission since it was established in 2000 by the administration of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region. 20 years on, the NDDC appears to have failed on this mandate following a series of allegations of failure and corruption and abandonment of projects.

Following allegations of mismanagement in the commission in 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari sacked Akwagaga Enyia as its Chairman in October 2019 and appointed Joy Nunieh as acting MD. After spending barely five months in office Nunieh was sacked and replaced with Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei. In the last one year, NDDC has had four acting MDs.

Nunieh was said to have had a fraught relationship with Akpabio during her short stay in the office and this led to her removal.

NDDC’s latest crisis started with the allegations of mismanagement of N40 billion. The Senate and House of Representatives in May set up a committee to investigate how the NDDC Interim Management Committee (IMC) allegedly spent over N40 billion within three months without recourse to established processes of funds disbursements.

NDDC which enjoys the backing of Akpabio fired back at the NASS members and accused them of trying to halt the planned forensic audit into the books of the commission. NASS and NDDC have been engaged in a media war since May over allegations and counter allegations of corruption.

The crisis, however, took a dramatic turn in the past week as Akpabio and Nunieh also started making a series of allegations against each other as NASS probes the management of funds under their watch.

Akpabio had told the panel that he knew nothing about the expenditure of the NDDC under Nunieh because she refused to give him briefings.

Nunieh also opened a can of worms and accused Akpabio of corruption and sexual harassment.

She said during her short tenure at NDDC, Akpabio repeatedly pressured her to take “an oath of secrecy” meant to keep her from exposing fraud.

“For instance, he told me to raise a memo to fraudulently award emergency contracts for flood victims in the Niger Delta,” she said.

Nunieh also alleged that the minister instigated her removal for failing to follow his illegal orders.

In his reaction while speaking on Arise TV, Akpabio described Nunieh as a “disgruntled former MD who does not know that offices come and go.”
“I’m not supposed to join issues with her as a minister of the federal republic,” he said.

On Thursday July 16 when Nunieh was billed to appear before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee probing the allegations of mismanagement at NDDC, a team of policemen laid siege to her home in Port Harcourt at 4am in an attempt to arrest her but she refused to open her door.

See Also

How Supreme Court Ruling Contradicted Overwhelming Evidence of Election Rigging, Forgery – Peter Obi

Rivers governor Nyesom Wike’s intervention saved her from being taken away from her home. Responding to Nunieh’s distress call, Wike went to her residence and took her out of the house to the government house to escape the siege. She appeared before the NASS committee today where she also made damning revelations on alleged corruption and mismanagement of funds in NDDC.

Over the years, NDDC has been accused of being a conduit pipe for siphoning funds meant for the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta region where the bulk of Nigeria’s revenue come from while the people of the area live in abject poverty.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan said, in May 2017, that the commission has failed the people of Niger Delta.

“From the days of Special Funds, through OMPADEC to now NDDC, the Federal Government has provided funds for the development of the oil bearing communities but very little physical infrastructure to show for it,” he said.

In December 2019, Akpabio had also said NDDC “abandoned” the $70 million in a bank since 2006 despite complaints over inadequate funds to complete hundreds of its abandoned projects scattered across the oil producing states.

President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement on Thursday has said his administration is determined to get to the root of the problem undermining the development of the Niger Delta.

“All investigating agencies and auditing firms currently working collaboratively with National Assembly Committees to audit and reposition the NDDC must act with urgency and a sense of purpose, and ensure that I am kept informed of any and all actions being taken,” he said.