OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT STATE GOVERNOR, MD & BOARD HIJACK NDDC 2011 BUDGET

We wish to draw the attention of Mr. President to the potentially disastrous activities of the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, which Mr. President recently inaugurated. You gave a clear mandate to the new board to clear the mess that has bedevilled the commission and provide a leadership that will transform the region in line with the transformation agenda of your administration. Mr. President, the new board has lasted just about three months, but they are already losing direction.
As patriotic citizens of Nigeria and the Niger Delta, committed to the sustainable development of the region, we have found pertinent to brief Mr. President on the state of commission.

1.That not considering the over 2000 awarded but uncompleted and underfunded projects currently overwhelming the commission, the new board has embarked on a spurious spree of contract awards. 800 fresh projects tagged – Emergency Road Projects has been smuggled into 2011 draft budget which had been concluded by the former board and management over six months ago. This budget tampering was done without the input of the Directorate in-charge of bud getting; a team of 8 illegal aides forcefully imposed on the Managing Director.

2.According to the procurement act of 2007, it takes at least 12 weeks to complete the full procurement process – from the tendering process to the final award. However, this Board because of their extreme desperation and greed has stayed thousands of projects that have successfully gone through due process, including those that have passed through the scrutiny of Bureau of Public Procurement, awaiting F.E.C approval, award and mobilisation; and others already in progress awaiting payment, so as to accommodate their 800 projects placed on emergency status and to be executed through emergency procurement/ direct single sourcing – (meaning no competitive bidding).

3.In a show of the current board’s greed and desperation to quickly amass wealth, which we consider more disturbing than the internal wrangling of the former, the 800 new projects (450 small ticket projects and 350 emergency road repairs), have been tagged as –Emergency Projects. The implication of this is that considering the provisions of the procurement act 2007 so specified above, the commission will award these contracts worth about N160 billion through the Direct Sourcing procurement method- a cunning move to evade the due procurement process and competitive bidding. More so, this also implies that over 2000 awarded and on-going projects of the commission cannot be funded and started until the end of the tenure of the present board.

4.It is sad that while other government agencies have completed the drafting of their 2012 budgets and awaiting approval by the national assembly, the current board of NDDC is still busy manipulating that of 2011(last year's) Draft Budget, smuggling in projects and fast tracking the award and payment of same even when there are existing contractors who have painstakingly (in most cases with facilities from the bank with interest still acc ruing) completed their jobs months ago and have remained unpaid for several months.

Currently, there are over 1,500 contractors for fresh and on-going projects for which contract agreements have been signed that are yet to be mobilized, yet the new board chose to neglect these and award new projects to their benefactors and friends. The Board put a blanket of 15% (amount appropriated for the fiscal year) for all existing projects without considering the fact that every project is unique and therefore has peculiar budgetary challenges, and without also considering that most contractors would have completed their projects within the year; yet the commission is busy awarding new projects. We are left in limbo as to where the money will suddenly come from to fund these 800 projects when diligent contractors who have completed their projects (with verifiable proofs) have been owed for months.

5.Your Excellency, also worthy of your attention is the issue of selective payment of contractors. Any organization that does not operate on the basis of equity and transparency is always a breeding ground for sharp practices and all manner of dubious manipulations. A situation where payment for a contractor who has completed his jobs (and duly certified so) will be denied payment by the board for no reason, yet same board goes ahead to advance payments amounting up to N2.5billion to certain contractors who have a timeworn reputation for abandoning projects even after being advanced, is highly discouraging and wicked.

6.Looking at the new manipulated draft budget forwarded to the National Assembly, one can only observe that it has become an extension of the budget of the Rivers State Ministry of Works. Over 200 hundred road projects already budgeted for by the Rivers State Government has suddenly become Emergency Projects for NDDC. Are funds for the Niger Delta now meant for a particular state?

7.Your Excellency, we recall that amongst the terms of reference read out to the Dr. Steve Orosanye led Presidential Committee on NDDC are “…assess and evaluate a sample inventory of some NDDC projects; to evaluate the contractor’s pre-qualification process in the commission; to evaluate the roles and relationship of the board, management and staff of the commission and to evaluate the procurement practices of the commission and its compliance to the letter and spirit of the Public Procurement Act”. Sir, it appears no lessons were learnt from the findings of the panel as the commission remains held bound by same (or even worse) gross irregularities that necessitated your action in the first instance.

Mr. President, in the light of these, we hereby make the following prayers:

1. All awarded contracts should be swiftly mobilized and funded (in accordance with the terms) for speedy execution of projects, and ensure that all contractors that have duly completed their projects be paid immediately.

2. Prevail on the erring Board to be TRANSPARENT in the award of contracts and to adhere strictly to the provisions of the Budget.

3. Prevail on the erring Board to ensure the speedy completion of all on-going projects.

4. It has been observed that the MD and board are sometimes misled by directors and aides because they are grossly unqualified and inexperienced. Directors of the core technical directorates of the Commission must be qualified and experienced technocrats and not “businessmen” or “agriculturists”. We therefore demand that the President directs the board to appoint only qualified Civil Engineers, Architects or Quantity Surveyors as directors of Project Management Dept; Project Monitoring Dept; Utilities, infrastructural development and Waterways.

Your Excellency, you remain a beacon of hope for the people of Niger Delta and NDDC remains an integral vehicle for the development of the region. Therefore, we urge you to use your good offices to prevail on the Board to tow the line of transparency and professionalism. We urge all patriotic Niger Deltans to join us in our prayers. But, We Will Watch and Pray!

Signed.

Evwierhurhoma Agbagoro       Unyime H. Enang                       
President                                Secretary


Cc:
Secretary to the Government of the Federation
Senate Committee Chairman on NDDC
House Committee Chairman on NDDC