NDDC: Between the buccaneers and a forensic audit

BY GEORGE KERLEY

A forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was a really great idea. It is indeed supposed to be a very worthy venture. I only hope it can be properly done in a fearless and coordinated manner no matter whose ox is gored. In the two decades of its existence, this is the first time any attempt has ever been made to restore sanity to the brazen malfeasance that NDDC has suddenly become.

Since its establishment in 2000 by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, billions of naira have been mismanaged, outrightly embezzled, deliberately diverted or just plainly blown away.

Over the years, this continued to get worse because everybody was getting away with everything. These are the buccaneers. They have had a free run and ride in about twenty years.

From board members to executive directors to national assembly members down to even security men at the gates.

Executive directors and board members were feasting themselves to the spoils of war, awarding contracts to themselves and their proxies and getting fat over it. They were acquiring real estate across the globe.

It was not long before internal wrangling between board members and executive directors started, largely as a result of disputes in the sharing formula for contracts and related largesse amongst themselves.

The national assembly which was supposed to be a watchdog suddenly unleashed its own DOGs of WAR with as committees designed to oversee the commission suddenly became dogs on their own, howling ferociously on the commission for their piece of the pie.

As a result, national assembly members became contractors to NDDC, each currying as many contracts as they can.

These ones had greed that knew no bounds. They helped to pad the yearly budget of the commission and got instant rewards in cash, in kind and in jolts of contracts.

For them, NDDC became their full time job while the national assembly became a part time job. With their mouths full and their fingers tapped into the till, they turned their eyes away from the pillaging that continued for about two decades.

Make a list of all the national assembly committee members on NDDC since its inception and due diligence. Answers would not be far fetched.

Almost from its establishment, internal wrangling amongst top members of executive team have been a bane to the efficiency of the commission.

It suddenly became a free for all feasting program as even security personnel and drivers joined the fray, selling off generators and helping themselves with contents of warehouses and properties belonging to the commission.

Office workers too also joined the carnival, hiding and misplacing documents that only re-appear after negotiated sums of monies have been paid to them.

Contractors too were not left out. Some chose to never go to site even after mobilisation. Some others decided that completing their awarded projects was not an item on their immediate list. Others resorted to delivering poor quality jobs.

Many contractors could not even complete their projects because they were shortchanged by the large amounts of upfront payments and kickbacks they were coerced to make.

In more recent times, contractors were mandated to forfeit a certain percentage of their contract sums to top management of the commission through recognised front men and dealmakers. Those who refused did not get paid.

At some some point, it became normal and usual for contractors not to deliver and complete their contracts. As long as they gave kickbacks to senior management, bribed internal auditors, and induced site engineers and project managers.

In the end, more than 10,000 uncompleted projects lay uncompleted, abandoned and forgotten across the Niger Delta.

Tens of thousands more of completed jobs have long deteriorated and decayed. Many of them did not serve any useful functions before they depreciated and gave way. Very few of these projects even lasted anywhere near their design life.

There are many of such projects: roads, jetties, healthcare centres, solar power street lights, water projects etc.

So the idea of a forensic audit and investigation of the Niger Delta Development Commission is a good one. In fact, it was a long overdue one.

It only required a bit more political will for its execution because it is a deeply tricky activity that involves a whole lot of players involving too many powerful persons across the spectrum of society.

The challenge is, most people today do not believe that the forensic audit will deliver as it has promised. They do not believe that anyone will be scapegoated, punished or shamed. There are just too many big names involved in this scam that NDDC has become.

It is true that the forensic audit may have taken too long having being officially decided upon about a year ago but we must also not forget that a lot of water has passed under this bridge.

We cannot forget how badly the national assembly and a carefully rented audience sought to truncate the forensic audit until some bit of truce was eventually achieved.

Whether it achieves its objectives in full or in part, a few things are sure to have been the benefits of this forensic audit.

• NDDC has saved billions of naira in the reckless awards of new contracts.
• NDDC has saved billions of naira in salaries, allowances, estacodes and imprests for appointees and the tons of aides they carry along with them.
• NDDC has saved billions of naira in the procurement of vehicles that may have been done in the past years and months.

We look forward to a successful completion of the forensic audit. Worst case, all the contractors who have been found to default on multi billion naira jobs should all be published and handed over to EFCC. This should be done on a state by state basis.

So that we can look forward to the new band of politicians and the new yesmen who will be appointed to pillage the commission all over again.

George writes from Port Harcourt.