The House of Representatives at its plenary session of Tuesday 19th November, 2019 resolved to invite the Honourable Minister of Niger-Delta and the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board to explain why the Commission has been spending monies that were not appropriated and approved by the National Assembly in violation of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Niger-Delta Development Commission Act No.9 of 2000 (as amended).
Presenting the motion, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu (APC: Abia) gave a synopsis of the Commission, which is established by the Niger Delta Development Commission (Establishment) Act No. 6 of 2000 with a clear mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Hon. Kalu noted that the NDDC was charged with the responsibility of conceiving and formulating policies, guidelines and a comprehensive Master Plan for the region covering key sectors such as agriculture, health, environment, energy, telecommunications and transport (infrastructure) among others. He mentioned that its mandate envisaged substantial expenditures including the award of huge contracts provided they were authorised by the National Assembly in line with section 80(3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)
Section 80(3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is reproduced below:
“(3) No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.
(4) No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.” Which makes it makes is explicitly mandatory for the National Assembly to authorise any and all manner of expenditures from all public funds of the Federation, including the funds of the NDDC”.
He also spoke on other laws complementing the constitutional requirement for approval such as section 18(1) of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (Establishment) Act No. 6 of 2000 (as amended), which mandates the Board to submit an estimate of the expenditure and income of the Commission for the next succeeding year for the National Assembly’s approval. He further explained that the provisions of Section 82 of the Constitution only empower the President to authorise the withdrawal of monies from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the absence of an Appropriation Act for six months on the condition that the amount withdrawn does not exceed the amount that was authorised by the National Assembly for the corresponding period in question in the previous year. He thus argued that this was applicable to the NDDC which was yet to submit an estimate of its expenditure and income for the 2019 fiscal year more than 13 months after the time frame required by law. In addition, the lawmaker was at a loss on the Commission’s gross non-compliance since its budget estimates should have been presented to the House before September 30, 2018. Other concerns expressed included that the Commission had been operating, making expenses and awarding contracts to the tune of N10 billion without despite obtaining approval from the National Assembly as required by the Constitution and its enabling Act. He also expressed worry on the implications of the Commission violating Section 82 of the Constitution and incurring expenses far beyond the six months period authorised in the Constitution and spending beyond half the amount approved by the National Assembly in its 2018 budget.
The lawmaker further recalled that the House Ad-hoc Committee on the NDDC set up to investigate its Abandoned Projects since 1999 had uncovered a total of 250 contracts awarded to “phony” companies in May, 2019 without appropriation or due process followed as required by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). He also mentioned that the NDDC had disregarded requests regarding its 2019 budget estimates despite several invitations by its Committees in the Senate and House of Representatives.
In conclusion, he stated that the failure and refusal of NDDC to submit its budget estimates for 2019 has created an “opaqueness” in the operations of the Commission that had encouraged corruption, mismanagement and embezzlement of funds meant for the development of the Niger-Delta region and the entire nation at large. He also blamed the delay in the presentation and passage of the NDDC budget as providing a platform for arbitrariness by its Management.
Following this, the House has also mandated its Committee on the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the financial activities of the Commission. The Committee is expected to report its findings in four weeks.
