The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr. Gbene Joi Nunieh, said on Tuesday that the Commission has suspended the monthly payment of N1 billion to a consultant that collected money from International Oil Companies, IOCs, on its behalf.
Speaking in an interview with journalists at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, she stressed that the Commission did not need middlemen to collect statutory funds due to it.
She noted that the Commission has a consulting firm engaged as a collection agent as well as another company which also collects 3 per cent whenever money was paid by the International Oil Companies, IOCs.
Therefore, she said the commission does not need a middle man to collect 3 per cent for gas adding “the money should just be paid into NDDC accounts with the CBN.”
Nunieh lamented that political interference was setting the Commission back.
According to her, her desk was overflowing with files waiting for payments, including those from companies belonging to an individual.
She wondered how one person can have 87 companies waiting for payment.
She however stressed that she will not be swayed by the political interference, adding: “That is why I have suspended the contract of a collection agent. We are no longer going to pay anyone N1 billion every month. That is wicked.
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“That money can put mono pumps in rural communities in the Niger Delta. It can buy books and set up primary health centres. The three per cent for a consulting firm is over. That is why we are under pressure. But I laugh because those who live in glass houses should never throw stones.”
Nunieh called on Niger Deltans to stand up to protect their region saying: “what is happening is very embarrassing. We must all get up and know that these people have taken our commonwealth.”
The NDDC boss said that things were beginning to look up as many contractors have gone back to site since she mounted the saddle as the MD/CEO. “We have about 57 contractors that have gone back to site. I am encouraging everyone to go back to site so that things will be done properly. Those that actually execute their contracts will be paid,” she assured.
On the issue of the legitimacy of the three-man Interim Management Committee, IMC, the NDDC acting MD wondered why people were misconstruing the situation.
She pointed out that though the NDDC Act was silent on the matter of an Interim Management Committee, the President had the right to set up the body.
“The NDDC Act is clear on the matter of the Commission’s chairmanship. It says that after Cross River State, Delta State is supposed to produce the Chairman of the NDDC board. If the Act says that after Cross River, Delta should produce the chairman, why would anyone say no?
“When the governors of the South-South states, led by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, visited President Muhammadu Buhari, he assured them that he would comply with the Act setting up the NDDC in taking decisions concerning the agency. He said that he would respect the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He also directed that a forensic audit be carried out from 2001 to date, stating that it was only after the audit that he would decide what to do with the Commission.”
