The Senate probe of the NDDC and the CSO’s revelatory take on the matter

The probe of the Senate Committee (IMC), on the NDDC allocation of monies to its ministry between the periods of October 29th, 2010 to May 31st, 2020, is now an old story as Nigerians have been in shock by the findings thus far.

The NDDC was said to have had made a total expenditure of N81.495 billion between the former Managing Director, Joy Nunieh and the current Professor Pondei. These expenditures were said to have occurred between February 19th, 2020, and May 31, 2020.

However, what could further distraught Nigerians would be the allegations and counter allegation of the different proponents and oppositions involved in the imbroglio.

For instance, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP, Delta North) had alleged that Senator Godswill Akpabio had collected contracts worth N500 million from NDDC in 2017 without executing them, despite receiving full payment.

On his part, Akpabio had through the interim committee alleged that Nwaoboshi similarly collected N3.6 billion worth of contracts from the commission in 2016, without any execution.

Accusations and counter accusations. Can some smokes be without fire? Let’s leave that to your discretion.

While the current waves of allegation against the Minister of the NDDC, Senator Akpabio, still rages by its former Managing Director, Mrs. Nunieh. Nigerians are finding it hard to reconcile which side to turn their faces of concentration to.

Civil Society Organisations (CSO), that seem to be fast becoming the voice of the common man in the face of an ailing system, sliding towards unaccountability and disconcert for proper ethics have intervened on the matter as they task the National Assembly on equity

The Head, Environment and Conservation, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), Dr Kabari Sam, affirmed that the National Assembly probe the NDDC was not a problem. However, what is to him is ensuring that answers are provided all culpable entities are brought to book. In his words.

“My only worry is that even those championing the probes have questions on their heads that they have not answered. As at December 2019, we heard that a certain member of the National Assembly had 300 contracts from the NDDC. Is it that they wanted to cover those things? These are the fear of some of the stakeholders,” he said.

On his part, Barrister Aminu Ismail insist that all former probes which had yielded no results should be put in view of the current, did they produce any results? In his words.

“The legislators should clean their names. There is this general perception that they only probe government institutions when leaders of such places refuse to settle them. We want to know what happened to previous investigations and whether somebody had been jailed,” he said.

Nigerians love and want the probe. They want their leaders held accountable, and do not want this to be like those of the past. The hope of future generations depends of the accountability of the management of the nation’s resources.

The Nigerian Senate probe of the NDDC and the strangest facts uncovered

5th may 2020, the Senate set up a 7 man Ad-hoc committee (IMC) to probe the NDDC allocation of monies to the ministry (40 billion naira). – they termed it “financial recklessness”, within the periods of October 29th, 2010 to May 31st, 2020.

The NDDC had made a total expenditure of N81.495 billion between the former Managing Director, Joy Nunieh and the current Professor Pondei. These expenditures were said to have occurred between February 19th, 2020, and May 31, 2020.

Mrs. Gbene Joy Nunieh was said to have spent N22.5 billion of the 81.5 billion between October 2019 to February 18, 2020. And Professor Daniel Pondei, spent N51.1 billion between February 19, 2020 and May 31st, 2020. This happened when each was the Managing Director of the Ministry.

Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi – the Chairman of the Senate Ad hoc Committee said that based on the records they had; the NDDC said it spent N81.5 billion; the AGF submitted N82 billion and the CBN submitted N92.2 billion between October 2019 and May 2020. He gave the breakdown of the expenses as –

N10 million – given to a single staff. N7 million – to 2 staff (N14 million). N3 million – given to each of 148 staffers. N1.5 million – given to each of 157 other categories of staff. N1 million – given to each of another category of 497 staff. N600,000.00 – given to 464 of the last categories of staff. N475 million – given for the purchase face mask and hand sanitizers to the police high command for men and officers in nine states captured in the Niger Delta Region. N1.3 billion – for community relations. N122 million – for condolences. N83.8 million – for consultancy. 3.14 billion – for COVID-19 intervention. N484 million – for Duty Tour Allowance (DTA).N790.9 million – for Imprest. N1.95 billion – for Lassa feversupport. N906 million – for legal fees. N61 million – forlogistics. N61 million – maintenance and N2.6 billion – formedicals.

The strangest part of the whole thing was the amount spent on Covid-19 relief for themselves while the millions of Nigerians prayed for help. Mr. Godwin Etakibuebu known as the Guru saidon Monday, in a Lagos based radio station “the NDDC, underAkpabio, started dealing with the covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria in October (2019) when the pandemic wasn’t yet recorded in the country (COVID-19 became an issue in Wuhan, China in November 2019, it reached Nigeria in February 2020). Implying that Nigeria was dealing with COVID-19 before it manifested inChina”.

We hope the committee gets to the root of the matter, retrieve what belongs the Niger-Delta people and ensure its proper deployment. They deserve the

536 AD, the worst year in history yet and this is why

The year 2020, has changed the face of life and living for everyone, refining standards and introducing a new normal, and we all know why. 

For millennials, it should be the worst time been alive, and maybe in history too because, at no other age or time has information sharing made the world such a global village – but alas, it’s not.

History tells us of:

The Black Death of the year 1349, that killed half the population of Europe.

The Smallpox of 1520, that heartlessly decimated the Americas and took away between 60 and 90 per cent of the continents’ foundational resides.

The Spanish Flu of 1918, that led the massive deaths of over 60 million people.

The rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933 that led to the estimated deaths of about 28.7 million soldiers, civilians and prisoners of war.

536AD – is generally accepted as the worst year in history. About that year, the Byzantine historian Procopius writes – 

“For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year”

The Irish chronicles account states thus – “a failure of bread from the years 536–539.”

The cause was a mysterious cloud that took over the Middle East, parts of Asia and Europe, plunging them into darkness, days and nights for 18 straight months.

“It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year,” says McCormick, a historian and archaeologist reports.

Temperatures that summer fell to 1.5°C to 2.5°C, initiating the coldest decade yet known. Crops died, and hunger ravished the lands

The cause?

Scientist, Researchers and glaciologist have of recent agreed that the root cause was a massive volcanic eruption that happened in Iceland early on that year 536, which led to huge amounts of ash being spread across the Northern Hemisphere. This created the mysterious fog that cast the world into darkness.