A former deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Timi Frank, has called on the new management board of the Niger Delta Development Commission to prioritise the interest and development of the Niger Delta region.
While congratulating the newly inaugurated management of the NDDC led by Lauretta Onochie as chairman and Samuel Ogbuku as the Managing Director, he also demanded the probe of the activities of the immediate past sole administrator of the agency, Effiong Akwa, and that of its last acting Managing Director, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, who served for about two months before the inauguration of the substantive management.
Frank, also Ambassador to the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (East Africa and Middle East), in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission to urgently investigate the tenure of Akwa and Audu-Ohwavborua over alleged contract deals.
He demanded that the new management should make public the report of the forensic audit of the NDDC carried out last year “for the purpose of accountability, transparency and to set the tone for good corporate governance and zero-tolerance for corruption under their watch.”
He, however, reminded the board that the NDDC should not be construed as an appendage of the APC but a special purpose vehicle meant to ameliorate the sufferings of the people due to long years of neglect and environmental degradation brought about by the activities of oil exploration, production and spillage.
He warned that they should not politicise the activities of the commission but rather carry the communities and all critical stakeholders in the region, especially the youths, along throughout their tenure.
According to him, despite the noble objectives for setting up the NDDC as clearly enunciated in the Act establishing the commission, past managements have turned the place to a cash cow for a few politicians both within and outside the region.
He described the incumbent Managing Director of NDDC, Ogbuku, as his friend and urged him to bring his wealth of experience, professionalism and integrity to bear in the administration of the agency.
Frank said, “As a friend, I will commend the agency if it stays true to its mandate under your tenure but I will not also fail to expose any iota of corruption or other forms of illegalities if I notice such in the commission going forward.
“I congratulate the new board and urge them to distant themselves from the predisposition of past leadership of the agency that turned the Commission to a cesspit of corruption and rendered it comatose.
“The new board must demonstrate a clean break from the sordid past of the agency by urgently making the report, findings and recommendations of the forensic audit carried out last year in the agency public.
“The exercise was carried out with tax payers’ money and all Nigerians, especially the people of the Niger Delta, deserve to know why the agency became a personal estate for a few eggheads instead of the generality of the people of the Niger Delta region.
“Let the board know that some of us are critical stakeholders in the region. Our duty is to closely monitor the activities of the Commission. If they do well, we shall commend them. But if they neglect their duty and focus on illegalities, we shall expose them.”
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