In furtherance of the advocacy for transparency and accountability in the management of proceeds from natural resources, especially oil and gas, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has tasked Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and stakeholders in the Niger Delta to closely monitor projects and programmes of interventionist agencies and commissions in the region.
The anti-corruption agency said that stakeholders needed to keep track of funds accruing to the region, regretting that since the discovery of crude oil in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, the region, which should ordinarily translate to prosperity and development for the citizens and inhabitants of the region, has unfortunately been underdeveloped.
Delivering the keynote address at a one-day multi-stakeholders development and accountability summit with the theme, ‘Building the Niger Delta Hope: Collaborating for Inclusive Development and Public Accountability,’ the Secretary of ICPC, Clifford Okwudiri Oparodu, expressed regrets that the intermittent unrest and agitation for equitable resource distribution and control that created palpable tension across the region was occasioned by years of neglect by the managers of the region’s resources.
Oparodu said: “The concept for this summit states clearly that the Niger Delta is the heartland of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon wealth, and that the Niger Delta plays a pivotal role in the nation’s economy as its primary oil-producing region.
“Instead, what we see is widespread poverty, pollution, severe environmental degradation, decline and threat to traditional livelihoods, decaying social infrastructure, short-changing of the people and communities in infrastructural projects design and implementation, marginalisation of the indigenous people by their local leaders and others in the distribution of resources and opportunities accruing from the wealth of the land.”
