The Rot At DESOPADEC

By Julius Oweh - Asaba

The discovery of the black gold, crude oil in the bowels of many communities in the Niger Delta region threw up a lot of things. It led to the uncoordinated exploitation of this resource and the resultant environmental degradation that snowball into joblessness of the fishermen and farmers and in some extreme cases, the fall of acid rain and consequent strange diseases.

The federal government in its wisdom to mitigate the effects of oil exploration and make sure that the owners of communities where the crude oil flows get some economic succour came up with the novel idea of 13 per cent derivation. The essence of this economic thinking is that apart from the monthly allocation to states from Abuja, oil bearing states are given 13 per cent derivation fund specifically meant for the development of such communities.

The Delta State government to actualize the policy thrust of the federal government therefore set up the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) with headquarters in Warri. Since its inception, DESOPADEC has instead acquired the infamy of producing a contractor class of millionaires instead of changing the lives of oil bearing communities by the provision of social amenities.

In 2013, DESOPADEC budget was N37billion, N39 billion in 2014 and N39 billion in 2015, yet the people of the oil bearing communities do not feel the impact of the agency. The recurrent expenditure of the agency is 47 per cent and is notorious for paying the management and staff outlandish salaries and allowances that are not in tune with economic realities.

It is even said that the salary structure of the agency shame the oil companies and the former governor of the state, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan had to step in. That is why the host communities of DESOPADEC are not happy with the state of affairs and had called on the agency and the government to overhaul the body so that the people get the intended benefits.

Speaking recently, the national co-coordinator of HOSTCOM, Prince Maikpobi Okareme wondered why the people are not feeling the impact of the interventionist agency. Okareme lamented thus on the shortcoming of the agency :`It is only DESOPADEC that has first line charge in funding because the amount that ought to go to it is fixed by law.

The law stipulates that 50 per cent of whatever accrues to the state from statutory derivation fund. So far this year (2015), on a monthly average, it is about N8 billion per month. That is to say we expect about N100 billion for 2015. The essence of derivation is to better the lots of oil producing communities, so for us to have accepted, in the interim, half of it for total usage. We are magnanimous enough.

The government should not make us insist on getting the whole money immediately, because ultimately we must get the whole`. The sentiments in most of the oil bearing communities of the state is that DESOPADEC is yet to justify its existence as it has been hijacked by the political class to produce a class of parasitic elites whose only qualification is their closeness to the power base of the state.

And it is this feeling of neglect and indifference that is making some prominent Deltans to push for the change of law establishing the body so that the people get the full benefit of the agency. Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, a prominent Deltan of Itsekiri extraction argued that the law establishing the body was unconstitutional and until the law is amended, the people of oil communities shall continue to suffer the indignities of producing crude oil without getting the desired benefits.

Listen to the sentiments of Lori-Ogbebor :`No law supersedes the laws of the constitution of Nigeria. The law guarantees 13 per cent derivation made it clear that the 13 per cent is strictly for the development of oil producing communities. There is no ambiguity to it. When the law came into force, the affected state governments were not putting money in the oil communities. We fought them to comply and they brought oil commissions which allocated 50 per cent of the 13 per cent to the communities.

I strongly believe that DESOPADEC since its inception has never received 50 per cent but if they did, the politicians have been stealing the money. DESOPADEC law is obnoxious. I reject it because the law where they give you and you don`t give it out properly as the law provides is unacceptable. The constitution stipulates the whole 13 per cent be devoted to caring for oil communities and their degraded environment`.

Apart from these allegations of not obeying the laws that set up DESOPADEC and the body not living up to its statutory obligation, a crisis is also brewing in the body on diversion of funds. According to a recent report, the chairman of the body, Mr Godwin Ebosa was accused of diverting about N350 million to fund a private newspaper and a monthly allocation of N150 million for a private university in the state. When contacted, Ebosa dismissed the allegation, describing them as the infantile imagination of some failed politicians that were desperate to control the affairs of the body.

On the allegation that the state House of Assembly speaker demanded some money from the agency before its budget could be passed, the managing director, Mr Williams Makinde said that it was not true and that the agency does not have any friction with the house and at no time did the Speaker Monday Igbuya ask for money from the body. He explained the position of the agency: `There has never been an issue with the house.

The house cleared us without stress, how do we now go back and pay them back by going to the press against them. The whole story is that there is no budget. That is the first thing, we don`t have a budget. We have not concluded our budget internally. We have neither submitted a budget to the governor nor to the house.`

The huge debt of the agency was corroborated by its executive director, project, Mr Philip Gbasin. Speaking in Sapele on the ten billion naira debt, he argued that for the year 2016, the agency will not embark on new projects and would rather concentrate on the completion of on-going projects.

Gbasin explained the indebtedness of the agency: `The files we inherited are quite frightening, about N10 billion. One of the biggest challenges is that for one certificate, it can take up to four installments to pay because there are so many projects awarded. Some contractors have completed projects and have not been paid. For this reason, no propjet would be awarded in 2016 to enable DESOPADEC clear debts being owed contractors`.

Even from the disclosure of top executives of the agency, it is very clear that the rot at DESOPADEC is overwhelming and that it has not lived up to its obligations to the oil bearing communities of the state. That is why the advice of High Chief Iduh Amadhe, the president general of Isoko Development Union should be heeded.

Speaking at Oleh, the headquarters of Isoko South Local government area, Amadhe said that the body should take resolutions from the various communities on projects dear to their hearts rather imposing projects on the people which most of the time are even abandoned.

He counseled thus :`The body should seek the views of the people and that projects should not be imposed on the people. The officials should leave their offices in Warri and go to the field and really get what the people want. It should be bottom-top approach .Let the oil bearing communities see the benefits of DESOPADEC as an intervention agency and not the production of emergency contractors millionaires`.

Because of the dismal performances of the body, some Ijaw and Itsekiri groups are threatening legal action against the body. Recently the Itsekiri Joint Action Group laid a siege at the Warri office of DESOPADEC over what the body described as below standard performances of the body. The sentiments in most of the oil bearing communities is that DESOPADEC has acquired the unique but dubious distinction of oiling the ego of the political elites and not attending to the needs of the oil producing areas.

That is why it is incumbent on the Okowa administration to take a strategic overhaul of the activities of the body and truly make it an interventionist agency to make sure that the people of oil bearing communities enjoy the benefits of crude oil in their land.

The stench of decay and the rot of indifference at DESOPADEC must be cleared so that notion of crude oil as a curse is removed and turn into a blessing that it ought to be. The time to act is now before any crisis erupts in these areas.

Julius Oweh a journalist, Asaba, Delta State.08037768392

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