The Presidency has said that as 2023 approaches, Nigerians need to elect another leader like President Muhammadu Buhari who can clean up corruption and mess in the country.
Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, stated this in his article on Thursday on his Facebook page, titled, PMB AND THE NDDC which was a reaction to the probe ongoing in the Niger Delta Development Commission.
Adesina noted that there had been wanton corruption in the NDDC for over 15 years and things only started to improve two years ago.
He said, “The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is an interventionist agency created for the development of the oil producing region of the country.
“Well, it is meant to be an interventionist agency, but one thing is crystal clear. Despite hundreds of billions of naira invested over 20 years, the true intervention has been in the pockets of some select people, rather than on the region, and the lives of the people in general.
“There’s one thing President Muhammadu Buhari hates with a passion. Grand larceny. Expropriation and purloining. Once it’s confirmed that you are filching from the public purse, you can never be his friend, no matter who you are. So, he had to bring to a halt the gravy train that the NDDC had become over the years. And no stampede, no rout or panic. The house cleaning must be done, and done well. Thorough.
“In the Niger Delta, you see plenty signboards, but little or no projects. In other words, people collect contracts, erect signboards announcing the project, but the job never gets done. And the contractors get paid.
“What to do? A forensic audit was necessary. Some powerful forces mounted robust resistance, but they didn’t reckon with the iron will of the President. The audit was done, and report submitted.”
Adesina added that if the resources pumped in over the years had been justified with verifiable projects, it would have impacted on the region, and on the lives of the people.
“The case of the NDDC is symptomatic of the lot of our country. An interventionist agency is established to serve the people, and it turns to a private cash cow for a few people. Who has cursed and bewitched our country, that there are few men (and women) of probity and accountability in public life?
“See what has been happening at the same NDDC, where all you saw were just signboards, and no project. About September last year, a Special Protection Unit Base 6 Barracks, built by the agency, was commissioned by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at Omaha, in Rivers State. Money well spent, simply because there is honest leadership in the country.
“As 2023 approaches, I pray that Nigerians would consolidate on honest leadership by electing somebody who can move us forward in probity and accountability. Buhari has shown us the way, may we never veer off the path again. Amen.
“There has been strident clamor for a composition of the Board of the NDDC. It is inexorable that it would come, but it should never be the business as usual we experienced in the past. Honest service to the people must be the watchword. That is what President Buhari has in mind, and that is what we should get. Order is better than speed, and we will get there,” he added.
