Today marks six years since President Muhammadu Buhari ordered relevant authorities to get to the bottom of the contract heist and scandal that rocked the NDDC, directing relevant security agencies and investigating bodies to work with the National Assembly to bring sanity to the management of the enormous resources for Niger Delta development. Six years later, a forensic audit report documenting one of Nigeria’s most breathtaking financial scandals remains buried, while the political class involved in the scandal is still in power, sitting on the report as if it never existed.
To refresh our memories: it was in the summer of 2020 that this sordid saga truly took flight. The precipitating event was the revelation that the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC had, in the space of just three months, allegedly blown through N40 billion. Yet, as verifiable reports would later confirm, not a kobo of that money was channeled into any development project in the Niger Delta; it simply evaporated. That scandalous episode, however, was merely the opening act. Further forensic scrutiny would unearth an even more damning picture: the agency had mismanaged a mind-boggling N81.5 billion over seven months, including the grotesque appropriation of N1.5 billion as COVID-19 relief funds for staff, this at a time when the region’s communities were gasping for the most basic amenities. One is left to wonder: in what universe does palliative care for public servants take precedence over the developmental needs of an entire sub-region?
I am not making this up. The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation inflicted a terrible wound on the agency when they revealed the breakdown of this N81.5 billion: community relations, N1.3 billion; condolences, N122.9 million; consultancy, N83 million; COVID-19, N3.14 billion; duty tour allowances, N486 million; imprest, N790.9 million; Lassa fever, N1.956 billion; legal services, N900 million; maintenance, N220 million; overseas travels, N85.6 million; project public communication, N1.121 billion; security, N744 million; staffing-related payments, N8.8 billion; and stakeholders’ engagement, N248 million. These were payments made to private pockets, with no evidence of implementation.
On July 20, 2020, the acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, during a televised investigation at the National Assembly, suddenly collapsed while fielding questions from the House of Representatives committee over the misappropriation of N81.5 billion. He claimed he had been ill for two weeks and ignored his doctor’s advice to stay home, and was being grilled when he slumped over his desk. Some said it was ill health, O
others whispered it was a stage-managed ploy to escape further interrogation. Whatever the truth, it was a moment that perfectly captured and rubbished our oversight institutions before the world.
The real bombshell came when the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, told the committee that “most of the contracts at NDDC are given to members of the National Assembly.” He was not allowed to elaborate, cut off by the chairman of the panel, Honourable Thomas Ereyitomi, who infamously told him to “off your mic” to prevent more dirt from coming out. The damage was done. Here was a minister publicly confirming what many had long suspected: that lawmakers who are supposed to exercise oversight over the NDDC are instead the primary beneficiaries of its contracts. When Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila gave Akpabio 48 hours to publish the names of lawmakers who got NDDC contracts, the minister initially denied the allegation and absolved members of any involvement. But he then made a dramatic u-turn in a scathing revelation, naming Senators Peter Nwaoboshi, Nicholas Mutu, Mathew Urhoghide, James Manager, Sam Anyanwu, and others simply identified as Ondo and Edo Reps members. According to the document, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi’s name was listed against 53 projects, including emergency repairs of various roads in Delta State. Senator Nicholas Mutu’s name appeared against 74 projects across Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, and Rivers states. Senator Sam Anyanwu had 19 projects. Senator Mathew Urhoghide had six. James Manager had six. Senator Nwaoboshi denied the allegation, describing it as blackmail and challenging Akpabio to send the so-called list to anti-graft agencies. But the question remains: where did these names come from, and why were these lawmakers, who are constitutionally mandated to provide oversight, awarded contracts by an agency they are supposed to monitor?
At the heart of this entire sordid affair was Joi Nunieh, the former Acting Managing Director of the NDDC. Nunieh had been removed from her position earlier in February 2020, with Akpabio citing concerns over her credentials, specifically the allegation that she had not participated in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps programme upon graduation from law school. The minister claimed he had received a letter from the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, questioning the validity of her certificates, prompting him to replace her “before it became a scandal.” But when the probe into the NDDC’s finances commenced, Nunieh emerged as a formidable whistleblower. In a series of explosive interviews, she accused Akpabio of corruption and, more damningly, of sexual harassment. Her testimony was gripping. She described meetings with Akpabio at his guest house in Apo and at Meridien Hotel, where she claimed he made inappropriate advances, offering to make her the substantive Managing Director in exchange for compliance. “Why did he not tell Nigerians that I slapped him in his guest house at Apo? I am the only Ogoni woman, the only Nigerian woman that has slapped him,” she declared during a live television interview. “I slapped him because of his plan B. Since he couldn’t get me to take that money, he thought that he could come up on me. He didn’t know that I’m a Port Harcourt girl. Port Harcourt girls are not moved by money, by somebody telling me that he will make me the substantive MD.” In response, Akpabio dismissed the allegations as baseless and suggested that Nunieh had temperament issues, even remarking that she should “see a doctor.” He also said her insubordination, not corruption, was the cause of her removal.
The situation turned even uglier. Hours before she was scheduled to testify before the House of Representatives Committee, a contingent of about 50 heavily armed policemen stormed her residence in the Government Reserved Area of Port Harcourt at 4 a.m. on July 17, 2020. Nunieh recounted that the officers had no warrant of arrest and began breaking down her security door. It was an act of state-sponsored intimidation that shocked the nation. Governor Nyesom Wike, upon hearing of the incident, rushed to the scene and personally intervened, ordering the police to leave and taking Nunieh to the Government House for her safety. Wike subsequently described the action of the police as a “disgrace,” pointing out that the Commissioner of Police had initially denied knowledge of the operation before changing his story within an hour. A Rivers State High Court later issued an interim order restraining the police and the Department of State Services from arresting, detaining, or harassing Nunieh. But the damage had been done. The attempt to silence a whistleblower had been starkly exposed. She had claimed Akpabio pressured her to award fictitious contracts worth N5 billion and misappropriate N10 billion as “Christmas palliative” for the Niger Delta, demands she refused to comply with.
This brings me to the larger, more troubling question: what has the National Assembly become? It has become a den of self-serving individuals whose primary interest is not the welfare of the Niger Delta people but their own enrichment. Both chambers engaged in a supremacy battle over who would control the investigation and the spoils. Senate President Ahmad Lawan had said the NDDC management had become voided with the confirmation of the board, yet the IMC continued to run the commission’s affairs with presidential backing. It was a contest between greed and power, with the people of the Niger Delta caught in the middle. The National Assembly was supposed to be the institution that holds the executive accountable. Instead, it became an enabler, with lawmakers fighting among themselves and with the minister over who benefited more from the looting.
When the forensic audit report was finally submitted to President Buhari on September 2, 2021, the numbers were staggering beyond comprehension. The Federal Government had approved approximately N6 trillion for the NDDC between 2001 and 2019. The audit uncovered a total of 13,777 contracts awarded at a final contract value of over N3 trillion, the execution of which was substantially compromised. The commission operated 362 bank accounts that lacked proper reconciliation. Three hundred and sixty-two accounts for one agency. How does any organization with a mandate to develop an entire region justify maintaining more bank accounts than the entire federal civil service? The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, declared in September 2021 that the Federal Government would launch criminal investigations into the 13,777 compromised projects. That was almost five years ago. The Pan-Niger Delta Forum warned against selective punishment of those behind the compromised projects. Their warning has proven prophetic. There has been no punishment at all.
Fast forward to today, and the political drama continues. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has publicly alleged that Dame Judith Amaechi, wife of former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, received N4 billion monthly from the NDDC for empowerment programmes. Wike has staked his political reputation on this claim, vowing to resign as FCT Minister if the forensic audit report does not confirm his allegations. Dame Judith Amaechi has denied the allegations, describing them as baseless and aimed at tarnishing her image for political gain. Her media aide stated that neither she nor her organization, the Empowerment Support Initiative, has ever received such payments from the NDDC. She challenged Wike to make public the forensic audit report where she was allegedly indicted, noting that it would be preposterous for anyone to claim indictment in a report that has not yet been published. This is the level to which we have descended. The NDDC forensic audit, which cost over N722 million to produce and was conducted by 16 reputable audit firms including international consultants Ernst and Young, has been reduced to a political football.
In November 2025, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja delivered a landmark judgment ordering President Bola Tinubu to direct the office of the Attorney General to widely publish the names of those indicted in the alleged misappropriation of over N6 trillion and to publish the NDDC forensic audit report. Justice Gladys Olotu held that the forensic audit report and the names of persons indicted therein clearly fall within the definition of public records as contained in Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act. She also held that the refusal of the president and the Attorney General to publish the audit report constitutes a breach of their statutory duties under the Freedom of Information Act and Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution. Yet the government has not complied. SERAP has threatened contempt proceedings against the Attorney General for his continued failure to obey the court judgment.
This brings me to the critical question raised by my headline: who is protecting these thieves? Six years, N6 trillion looted, and not a single conviction. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been suspiciously silent. The Attorney-General of the Federation has done nothing. The National Assembly, whose members were named as beneficiaries of contracts, has no interest in pursuing the matter. The Presidency, under both Buhari and Tinubu, has shown no urgency. I am not asking for a press release or a reassuring statement. I am asking for action. I am asking for the EFCC to do a thorough search. To dig through the 362 bank accounts, to trace the billions of naira that disappeared, to track the contracts that were awarded to members of the National Assembly and other political actors, to identify the contractors who were paid for work never done, and to prosecute every single person involved in this monumental theft. I am asking the EFCC to ask itself a simple question: how is it possible that N6 trillion was approved for the development of the Niger Delta, and yet the region remains one of the most impoverished and underdeveloped parts of the country? How is it possible that 13,777 projects were awarded and substantially compromised, and yet no one has been held accountable? How is it possible that the National Assembly members who were supposed to oversee this agency were instead receiving contracts from it? How is it possible that a forensic audit report that cost over N722 million is gathering dust while the political class uses it for cheap point-scoring?
To be continued!
JOEL Arinze writes from the United States.
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