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.