Persons who participated in the looting of funds meant for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to use for the development of the region should not rejoice because President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to catch and prosecute them.
Anyone of them found to have been complicit in the pillaging of the funds meant for the development of the region through the NDDC, would be jailed, the president said on Thursday.
According to the president, the report of the forensic audit of the activities of the Commission was being reviewed for this purpose.
He spoke during the virtual commissioning of the NDDC Prototype Hostel at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, with the title ‘NDDC Forensic Audit: President Buhari says ‘Every Kobo’ will be recovered, culprits to face the law’.
NDDC was created in the early part of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s term immediately after Nigeria returned to civil rule. It was designed to anchor the development of the Niger Delta region, home of Nigeria’s oil and gas resources but which had been neglected by previous administrations.
Buhari regretted that the special development fund for the region has been captured and squandered by a few, leaving the majority in poverty.
According to the President, the lives of the people of the region would have been transformed if all the funds that have been poured into the region had been judiciously utilized.
“The Niger Delta Development Commission needs to demonstrate that it can achieve the objectives it was conceived for and make its impact felt all over the Niger Delta Region,” he noted.
“The lives of the people of the Niger Delta could be so much better, if the funding received by this commission since its inception, in billions of naira over the last 20 years, has been judiciously deployed in service of the people.
“The serial abuse, lack of delivery, and what had become an entrenched institutional decay, was the reason why I called for the forensic audit.
“Therefore, going forward we shall ensure every recoverable kobo, is recovered for use in service of the people of this region, and those found culpable shall face the Law.
“Consequently, I want to use the opportunity of this commissioning to direct all statutory contributors to the NDDC to remit all outstanding funds to the Commission, and to ensure this is done transparently and according to laid down procedure and process,” he said.
Buhari challenged the NDDC to convince the people of the region that it has the capacity to achieve its objectives and mandate.
According to Buhari, the contract for the building of a 1,050-capacity hostel for male and female students was awarded in 2004, adding that, like many other projects like it, it was abandoned.
“When I directed the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to institute a forensic audit of the Commission, after many representations by major stakeholders in the Niger Delta, I had also directed that all viable projects which had been abandoned, but which would impact positively on the lives and livelihoods of the people, be immediately revived and completed.”
“Government must continue in its efforts to serve the people, by providing amenities, as well as the enabling environment for scholarships, investments across all sectors, for the sustenance of the environment, and overall growth of the economy,” he noted.
“Significant part of this success story is that it could easily not have happened. The contract for this hostel was awarded as far back as 2004. It was one of many projects abandoned across the Niger Delta region, but which I directed the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, to expeditiously complete and put to use,’’ the President added.
The prototype university hostel consists of 1,050-bed spaces, 525 each for males and females.
