NDDC seeks approval of Reps for spent budgets of 2021, 2022

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has asked the House of Representatives to approve its budgets for 2021 and 2022—after spending the funds for the financial cycles.

Samuel Ogbuku, managing director of the Commission, while appearing before the House Committee on NDDC on Thursday, said the 2021, 2022 and 2023 budgets have been consolidated into what he called “Budget of Rewind to Rebirth.”

While defending the budget, Mr Ogbuku explained that a total budget of N485.7 billion was proposed for the NDDC in 2021, N928.2 billion in 2022, and N876 billion in 2023.

He noted that “although the 2023 budget is being presented late to this Honorable Committee, we are confident that we shall strive to channel the lean resources to impactful projects/programmes,” he said.

Turbulence in the NDDC

For a couple of years, the NDDC had no board until this January.

The Senate had in November 2019, confirmed the 15 nominees sent by Mr Buhari as NDDC board members. The president had sent the names of the nominees led by an Edo State politician, Pius Odubu, to the Senate in October.

The president, however, refused to inaugurate the nominees even after they were cleared by the Senate. During the confirmation process, the president ordered a forensic audit of the operations of the organisation from 2001 to 2019.

Also, before the nominees were cleared by the Senate, the former Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, named an interim management committee for the NDDC.

In November 2022, Lauretta Onochie was appointed the chairman of the board of the NDDC and a board was constituted.

I inherited a dysfunctional NDDC — Ogbuku

Mr Ogbuku said he has been working to correct the “dysfunctional situation” he inherited from his predecessor.

“On resumption of office, we know that the task was very huge. We met a lot of dysfunctional situations in the commission which we as management and the board try to correct a few of them, especially the internal administration reorganisation. We have done most of that.

“We believe that as a team it will make more sense to start looking behind to blame the past. We thought that it was our responsibility for us to pick up from where we met the situation of the commission by improving on the successes of our predecessors and also correcting their mistakes,” he said.

The Chairman of the Committee, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo (APC, Ondo), while responding to the comment made by the MD, said the committee will cooperate with the commission but that the budgets will not be passed without proper scrutiny.

“But be rest assured that as much as we are ready to show you love and cooperation to ensure that you succeed, I as the chairman and members of the committee will not hesitate to activate all parts of the law needed to stop abuse and misuse of resources,” he said.

“We waited three to four years to have this board, it is time to put your house in order and stop all this ‘paper ‘tigerism’ and the fights on the pages of newspapers.

“Please, let the wait be worth it. The people are hungry for development. The people are not interested in ego fights, blame games, or buck-passing, the people of the region need hope — renewed hope — and this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.

“Please, make your achievements in the NDDC an enhancement of your profiles, not a dent in your social and corporate standing,” he said.

The committee subsequently went into a closed-door session to deliberate on the details of the budget.