The minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, has put the debts owed to the Niger Delta development Commission (NDDC) by all the international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria at $4 billion.
Akpabio disclosed this yesterday at the weekly ministerial press briefing organised by the presidential communications team at the State House, Abuja.
The minister stated that the IOCs which are required to remit 3 per cent of their annual budgets to the commission as their statutory contribution to its funding had reneged to remit same for many years.
“NDDC is being owed $4 billion by the OICs unremitted funds. The federal government is owing a little bit of its own part that it should do to the NDDC. I believe that with the audit of the commission, we will begin to offset those things working closely with the ministry of finance.
“There are plans to pay those debts. I want to see a balance sheet of the NDDC that is bankable. The IOCs are expected to pay to the NDDC three per cent of their annual budgets. All of them have failed to do so at different times,” he said.
He further disclosed that the debt profile of the NDDC since its creation 21 years was more than N3 trillion, adding that no significant project executed by the commission matched the figure.
Akpabio said it was in a bid to unearth where the huge sums of money given to the NDDC had been utilised that led to the setting up of the forensic audit team.
He explained that the government’s aim was to use the forensic audit report to correct all the ills of the past in the Niger Delta region adding that it was time for the amnesty programme to end so that the people could get better deal instead of the stipend the ex-agitators were being paid.
“I haven’t seen any major thing that has touched the lives of the people in the region done by the NDDC. We are still searching for the project they have done. The money given to the NDDC has not been utilised well.
“The major agent of intervention, the NDDC failed, that has been the problem.
“We (NDDC) have a commitment in the excess of N3 trillion. The forensic audit will clarify these things,” he said.
Commenting on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, Akpabio said the Niger Delta people were pleased with President Muhammadu Buhari for showing shown commitment to their cause through the Act.
He said the major concern about the law was not the amount of resources it will make available to the people in the host communities, but the way and manner the resources would be applied and those to be involved.
“The PIA when implemented is going to assuage the feelings of the people of the host communities because they never had half a percent since 1956 when oil was discovered in Oloibri.
“That is why I said that it is not the percentage that is the issue. Some communities could not even do this solar powered toilet, some had no drinking water, even water tankers supplying them water failed because they had oil exploration and exploitation had destroyed their water system.
“But now with the PIA, they would be able to do certain things for themselves without waiting on oil companies, the federal government or the state to do it for them.
“My prayer is that the people would see this as a major step. People are arguing about percentages, I am not interested in that. We would manage this three per cent, but the major thing is to use it well. Even the small percentages that used to come to the NDDC, at least, they did not utilise it well.
“We will do a lot of sensitization from the ministry, visit the people. When we look at the Act and know the composition of those who should be in charge of the money, we will also make our inputs and it should be mostly project based.
“It shouldn’t be like a normal contract. It should almost be like direct labour. It is a major leap forward,” he added.
On the East-West road project still under construction, the minister said the federal government had put over N10 billion into the project.
However, he said the delay associated with the project included paucity of funds and the 15km Eleme, Onne sections which were not originally captured in the project.
