News reaching us that ongoing investigation is going on by Sahara Reporters which revealed that the former Education Minister Nyesom Wike and the Nigeria’s First Lady, Patience Jonathan, collaborated in a number of schemes that enabled them to loot the resources of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The commission, which was established to spearhead economic development in Nigeria’s oil-producing delta, has been left financially insolvent, unable for the first time ever to pay salaries to its staff or to meet its obligations to contractors.
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Over a two-week investigation, insiders within NDDC told Sahara Reporters that Mrs. Jonathan and Mr. Wike, PDP governorship candidate in Rivers, caused a large part of the commission’s current woes.
A source at the commission alleged that its management gave Mrs. Jonathan N3billion immediately after the National Assembly approved the commission’s budget. “They said the First Lady had facilitated the passage of the NDDC’s budget without delay by the National Assembly. That’s why they gave her such a huge sum. The payment was recorded as a consultancy undertaking,” the source said.
In addition, money drained from the agency is reportedly bankrolling Mr. Wike’s ambition. “Barrister Wike is using billions of naira from the NDDC to run his campaign. It is one of the major reasons that the commission has not been able to honor its obligations or pay salaries,” another source at the commission stated.
Numerous sources said Mr. Wike had handpicked Itotenaan Henry Ogiri as the agency’s executive director (in charge of finance and administration). The understanding was that Mr. Ogiri, a close associate of the Ikwerre-born governorship aspirant, would dip into the funds of the commission to help finance Mr. Wike’s campaign.
Bassey Dan Abia, a lawyer from Akwa Ibom State, heads the commission’s management, which is in its second year. Several disaffected staffers accused the management of financing other political projects across the Niger Delta, contrary to its mandate.
Mr. Wike’s campaign is said to enjoy a huge war chest from the commission’s funds. The former Education Minister, who is being backed by Mrs. Jonathan, showers tons of dollars, his preferred currency, on his supporters and underlings, including some ex-militants he has retained to intimidate supporters of his political opponents.
For the first time since then President Olusegun Obasanjo rebranded the commission in 2000, the NDDC missed the timetable to pay workers’ salary in January. In addition, senior staff of the commission said they were distressed that their housing, furniture and other allowances have not been paid for the first time since the establishment of the agency.
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