THE report of the forensic audit into the activities of the Niger Delta Development Commission presented to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), offers him another opportunity to jumpstart his slumbering and ill-defined anti-corruption campaign. The audit report, prepared by a team of forensic auditors in collaboration with 16 reputable audit firms at the cost of N722.3 million, was presented to the President by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.

Meticulously, the auditors burrowed through a total of 13,777 contracts that were awarded to different contractors between 2001 and 2019 at a combined final contract value of over N3 trillion. Also, they scanned through documents of statutory and non-statutory transfers to the agency, which brought the total amount given to it within the period under review to N6 trillion.

Depressingly, the exercise found out there is no value for the money spent in the region as evidence on the ground could not justify such huge investments in terms of legacy projects and human capital development. On the contrary, what Nigerians are left with are the carcasses of failed projects littering the length and breadth of the oil-rich region.

There are accusations of tingling tales and horrid expropriation of development funds with impunity by those who presided over the agency’s affairs, as well as unending lamentations by dispirited indigenes of the region for raised hopes dashed. Rather than the pursuit of its determination to “make a difference,” as its motto says, the NDDC, sadly, has turned out to become another cesspool of corruption, a banquet of sleaze funds for the political class and pillar of disappointment to the Niger Delta people. With scant regard for transparency and accountability, it is not surprising that it has spectacularly failed in delivering its mandate, as eloquently attested to by the audit report and other stakeholders. The pervasive squalor, poverty, and lack of infrastructure across the region that the agency was expected to mitigate deepen the agony of the people.

In August 2015, the then Auditor-General for the Federation, Samuel Ukura, said that at least N183 billion meant for the development of the region was diverted by the agency. Years after the revelation, nobody has been brought to book by the government. During a public hearing at the House of Representatives in 2020, it was revealed that the agency allegedly paid a whopping N642 million to a company to train locals on how to “help locate and identify the NDDC projects in the Niger Delta area.” At another time, it spent N1.5 billion on “COVID-19 palliatives.” Nothing other than the arrest and prosecution of those indicted by the report will therefore suffice. The President’s reputation as an anti-corruption campaigner, already weakened, is at stake here.

Indeed, it is a litmus test. Commendably, he has vowed to apply the full weight of the law to remedy the deficiencies outlined in the audit report, as well as recover funds that were not properly utilised for the public purposes they were meant for. That will be the least expected of the regime. He should without much ado set the machinery in motion to bring the culprits to book without fear or favour beyond expressing concern over the poor utilisation of the allocated funds. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should delay no further in arresting and charging the indicted individuals and organisations to court. This will demonstrate the regime’s determination to act differently.

Recall that the Federal Executive Council had in August 2020 authorised a forensic audit of the interventionist agency. This came against the backdrop of the complaints of underdevelopment and infrastructural decay in the nine states of the region despite the huge allocations since inception in 2001. Besides, the regime admitted that the strident clamour for the audit by the people of the Niger Delta region was understandably informed by the huge gaps between resources allocated to the region vis-a-vis the huge gap in available infrastructural, human, and economic development. Indeed, this newspaper had in an editorial in 2020 held that “a decent approach requires Buhari to constitute without further delay an independent inquiry into the shoddy affairs” of the agency.

Inevitably, the audit report is dripping with tales of malfeasance perpetrated by the NDDC officials and contractors over the years. For instance, it was revealed that the agency, contrary to extant financial regulations, operated a total of 362 bank accounts, resulting in a “lack of proper reconciliation of accounts.” This is unacceptable. Currently, there is an Executive Order mandating all agencies of government to implement the Single Treasury Account policy in financial operations to ensure transparency and accountability. Those who violated the order should be openly punished in line with the law.

Buhari should muster the political will and sincerity of purpose to fulfil his pledge to “without hesitation, strategically implement all aspects of the audit exercise that will promote probity and greater prosperity for the Niger Delta Region and Nigeria as a whole.” Anything less is not acceptable.

The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, under whose purview the task falls, should outline an action plan in carrying out the implementation promised by the President. Among the immediate steps promised, which Nigerians earnestly await, is his implementation framework, including but not limited to “initiation of criminal investigations, prosecution, recovery of funds not properly utilised for the public purposes for which they were meant for.” It includes the review of the laws to reposition and restructure the NDDC for better service delivery among others.

The starting point will be to make the report accessible to all Nigerians and engage civil society organisations in its implementation to engender transparency.

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