…After N115bn, $84m recovery

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for recovering more than N115 billion and $84 million in outstanding statutory levies owed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by oil companies.
  
However, the rights group urged the anti-graft agency to go beyond revenue recovery by investigating and prosecuting contractors who collected billions of naira for NDDC projects but failed to execute or abandoned them after receiving public funds.
   
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, HURIWA said the recovery was an important step towards preventing funds meant for the development of the Niger Delta from being lost through corporate non-compliance, administrative negligence or deliberate evasion.
   
The group also commended the Senate Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, for investigating the 2021–2023 Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Oil and Gas Industry Audit Reports and demanding explanations from companies with unresolved financial obligations.
  
According to the EFCC’s presentation before the committee, the commission investigated 43 oil companies and established outstanding liabilities against 24, while 19 were cleared.
  
The 24 companies were initially found to owe N76.88 billion and $81.08 million. Subsequently, some companies paid N6.71 billion and $16.99 million directly to the NDDC, while the EFCC released N73.37 billion and $67.07 million in recovered funds to the commission.
   
Onwubiko said the recoveries should prompt a broader investigation into how such huge statutory obligations remained unpaid for years, stressing that every naira and dollar recovered carries a responsibility to the people of the Niger Delta.
  
He said the region, which has endured environmental degradation, poverty, unemployment and inadequate infrastructure, deserved to see recovered funds translated into tangible development.
  
“Recovering NDDC money from oil companies is only half of the job. The bigger responsibility is ensuring that the recovered funds are deployed transparently for the benefit of the people for whom the NDDC was established,” he said.
  
Onwubiko urged the EFCC to investigate contractors who received mobilisation payments but failed to commence projects, abandoned them after receiving funds or delivered projects that did not correspond with the amounts paid.
   
He asked the commission to trace the money through the NDDC project chain and determine who collected funds for uncompleted roads, schools and water projects, as well as those who certified abandoned projects as completed.
   
HURIWA said contractors and public officials found culpable should be arrested and prosecuted, irrespective of their political connections or status.
  
The association also urged closer scrutiny of procurement processes, contract variations, mobilisation payments, completion certificates and payments for abandoned projects.
   
It warned that legislative oversight would have limited impact if investigations ended with public hearings and reports without enforcement, sanctions or recovery.
  
HURIWA further urged the NDDC to publish details of funds recovered and provide Nigerians with clear information on how the resources are deployed, insisting that the people of the Niger Delta deserve visible development from the region’s oil wealth.