 Senate passes 800 and 76 billion Naira NDDC 2023 budget as 12 board members and aides get 451 million Naira entitlement for the year. And the Nigerian Correctional Service says there are 75,436 inmates in prisons and 52,000 of those are awaiting trial. Tonight we'll discuss incarcerations and the delays in prosecutions in Nigeria. This is plus politics. I am Mary Annacolm. The 876 billion Naira 2023 budget for the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC has been passed by the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday after a thorough debate that tends to bring out the impact of the Commission on the people of the Niger Delta region in the past 10 years. Now out of the humongous amount passed, aides to 12 board members of the Commission are to get the amount of 400 or the sum of 451 million Naira as their entitlement for the year. While 576 million Naira was earmatched for the running of the office of the chairman of the Commission Loretta Arnauchi. The breakdown of the office for the chairman showed that the personnel cost will go up about 156 million Naira overhead minus 312 million Naira and internal capital of minus 108 million Naira. Now the corporate affairs department of the Commission also will get 1.61 billion Naira from the votes out of which 431.76 million Naira is for personnel cost 845.566 million Naira is for overhead 63.081 million is for internal audit. Joining us to talk about this and break it down is Uppunabot Incotare is a public affairs analyst. Mr. Tare so good to have you join us good evening. Oh I think you're muted I'm unable to hear you. I think that you're muted so I can't hear you. Yeah perfect we can hear you now. Yes yes great yes thank you for joining us. This is a very interesting breakdown as you have seen me painstakingly spell out how these monies have been broken down and for what use it would be but then the NDDC does have a lot of issues hanging around its neck and here we are at the tail end of a government actually putting aside this amount of monies for the NDDC when they've not been able to account for all the other monies that have been given to them in the past eight years. Yes Naira that is the commando. One begins to wonder the reasonableness in the relief of these monies to NDDC when the past leadership of the Commission have been able to account for monies already given to them and it's quite a reason that I only have a staggering amount that is being released. NDDC as far as I'm concerned it's a duplication of the minister of Nanda Delta approach. I keep saying it especially when the issue of Nanda the minister of Nanda Delta approach as I did I said to start with it is completely unnecessary because the whole essence of NDDC was to address the nagging problems of the Nanda Delta with a view to palliating the disparity associated with oil exploration and exploitation occasioned by the militancy of the Nanda Delta. Let me also use this opportunity to correct an impression. Militancy does not connote negativity. It's just the fight for the change of social change fight for social justice. A number of people believe that when they say you're a militant it means you're a criminal, you're a bandit. No that's not the case. That's the misconception of the word militancy. So it was meant to address the Nanda Delta problem because of the monstrous ending here because of the fact that the Nanda Delta as a result of exploration and exploitation activities by the federal government and when the Nanda Delta reacted and said enough is enough, so much was created out of the system. We literally have nothing to show for it. That was why the issue of NDDC came up. So you don't really need a Nanda Delta means because it's just duplication. I don't give you the background. It's just duplication of office. What they have done was to empower the NDDC to give the work it was meant to do, it was set up to do. But you see because the government, when I mean government, not just the government, the government remains in what are called a Fabian policy, you know, let us just deceive them, set up this commission but we were still in charge. And so what we saw in the past was people from the Nanda Delta being appointed as NDS and executive directors and so on while the actual city structures from the center. They are actually going to be in the free hand. Whenever a president wants anything done, what do they do? They go to the Nanda Delta Ministry. Even if what has to be done or what the work done is done is enough, they go to the Nanda Delta Ministry. And so they prank him this money because it's a country fight. Now remember the of the Mike Saga. Remember the disclosure of a man, a senator from Delta State, who got how many contracts. So he didn't remember. The money you are giving to him and he did nothing with it. I'm talking about investigations and disclosure. And nothing by the same as I said. I'm not to run, not proof to show that such contracts were awarded and such money are given. I'm not when I say proof. I'm not talking about there is nothing to justify their amount you risked it. And just one man with how many contracts? Well about 20 something or 30 something contracts. One man, a senator. Now you have to remember the issue of this former MP who allegedly probably collapsed on the floor of the National Assembly. Well that's a big question. Everyone is still asking where Professor Ponder is. Even though he was pushed out by this president. But where is he? And yes, because if he has to be confirmed, we show off the Mike, off the Mike. Because if he has to squeal, a lot of people will never have to roll. And so that was the smartest way to them, because he wanted to try ridiculous. They are the smartest way to live out of that mess to pretend. And that was the end of it. We never had anything which is normal in Nigeria. Once you're all connected, you have the rich, you have the clouds. And the masses investigate and try to un-edge whatever wrong, whatever negative you have committed. What the authorities do is they set up an investigation panel and that will be the end of it. We have, we saw that in Magu and many others. So I will tell you that most times these monies are released because the senators or the National Assembly most times reach this compromise with certain persons to ensure that when the monies are released, they also participate in the legit. That's what they do. They participate in it. Go around the federation. You will see entities sign boards. Most of them work here and so on. They just, they tell you they want to do it. And in most cases, it's not to be handled. They do these concrete groups, or they tell you they want to settle the community. And 90% of the time, these things are abandoned, thrown out to be abandoned projects. They don't ever complete those projects. If you see an energy project that is completed, the ND has a special interest in it. But 90%. So you find that the entity has become a system of corruption. Because the country, during elections, they release monies to entities. So that the entity will read the bypass and they will now say it is meant for one particular project, but it gets into the pocket of a particular politician. They want the election for that year. These are the kind of four they find in entities. And one begins to wonder, under the most circumstances, I wouldn't have won it. Because no matter the time of the year, if it is due, the entity, it doesn't matter. So even if the monies are released, a date where these entities, I wouldn't have won it. Even if these monies were judiciously used. But that is always not the case. This is like a packing like this, a packing date. And I tell you that if any of us are to see billionaires, and then they release to the commission, maybe 30% to 40% of it will be the only debt to the commission. They will have to be shared amongst legislators. Those are also men and women. That is exactly what they need to have. And they might also leave it. So they are in a hurry to ensure that they get their own share. That is why they want to leave the money. So that they get their own share. Because most of them are out of office. That is the end of it. The commission will deal with the new president of the city, the new speaker of the House of Representatives. And that must have the one of the reasons for the rush. Because they have got about two weeks or more. You can barely two weeks to stay in office. Let me go back to some of the things that you mentioned in your response. You talked about the fact that they need to be empowered. I am considering that if billions and billions are being sunk into a place like the NDDC, I will still talk about the Niger Delta Ministry. But let's stay with the NDDC. If such amount of monies are being voted to the NDDC, what more empowerment are you talking about? How more empowered would they want to be? They are obviously a department or an agency of government who has been given a mandate. So what kind of empowerment or motivation again are they needing if they have these much monies in their coffers? Because you said they need to be more empowered. They have so much more. Yeah, you did. You said they needed to be empowered. And I am thinking, as a commission, especially in Nigeria, you talked about empowerment. Yes, you did talk about more empowerment. But then let's talk about it. Yes, you did. But that's fine. I wrote it down. Yeah, you also talked about... I wrote it down, but let's not argue about it. I wrote it down. I wanted to come back. Yeah, but let's talk about when you say that all of these monies are being put into the commission and it ends up in the pockets of people. Like we've seen, it's also how do we call it? It's more like a competition of sorts who sits at the helm of affairs at the NDDC. And thank goodness you've spoken about Professor Pandey, even though he was booted out, we still haven't heard the last of that case. Should we be thinking about the scrapping of the NDDC at this point if so much money is keep going into the NDDC? And like you said, we only see signposts. We've not seen any developmental projects, any that has been followed to the latter. I mean, I would love for somebody to prove us wrong. Why do we still need it around if we still have the Niger Delta Ministry, which also is saddled with the responsibility of dealing with the problems in the Niger Delta? Why do we still need the NDDC? Shouldn't there be a push of sorts for it to be scrapped? Or could it be that the people of the Niger Delta also somewhat have their hands in the cookie jar, aside from the politicians that you have made mention of today? I just told you, it's an Indian policy. As you can see from the left side, yeah, no doubt about it, because like I said, it was supposed to address the burning and nagging issue in the Niger Delta as a result of the rest of it. But then, it's a freedom policy because it was set up ostensibly to address these issues while in actual fact, it was not addressing the issues. And even the presidency cannot be made to solve it, because anything they say is directly under the presidency. So the president also money thought, the amount they receive and how those monies are being spent. It is the president's responsibility or the president's, the president himself is the child of the president. But they failed. And it's a dream where they don't doubt that they failed to do the money. What really happens is that they use that to settle crimes. That's what most presidents do with what it is to settle crime. Now, the issue of the nature of the Niger Delta, when it was sent by the member of the sister's kitchen, I condemned it, I criticized it. I said, the issue of the Niger Delta is completely unnecessary. Make really talk about empowerment. You're okay, maybe that's what I said. I said, I'll give you some hard evidence in this job. Maybe that's where I thought it was important. That's what you said. That's what you said. That's what I said. When I mean, if I give them the free hand and monitor them, they're not going to give them money. That's all I mean. Give them the free hand and monitor them. They're sure. And in the absence of them doing this, because you see, if the people of the Niger Delta are not feeling, take for example, at some point, the Karabai Tu expressway was an eyesore. It's always been an eyesore since after the Donald Duke administration. And the NADC at that time, I think led by Ibn Semenetari, had gone there to say, oh, we're going to fix this spot. As we speak, that spot is still there. So again, if these people have not in any way been able to do anything or follow through to the latter, should the people of the Niger Delta not be up in arms pushing that the NADC be scrapped or at least pushing for them to do their jobs instead of it just being like you said? The people of the Niger Delta did that. And now that we're right to the NADC, the permission of the NADC. Now, when we talk of the NADC budget, we said it didn't show up at the one there and made a promise that never to never fulfill it. Probably she just made that promise in order to ingratiate herself with the NADC or being a NADC or a common NADC. Or probably she meant it. But because of that being said, my friend, what are you doing? Because for you to even be this entity of NADC, I must tell you, you must have, NADC is like a substructure under a superstructure. Somebody eliminated you, somebody influenced your appointment. It's not necessarily based on merit. Somebody influenced your appointment. And that person is expecting feedbacks, feedbacks in terms of money, feedbacks in terms of contracts, feedbacks in terms of favors. There are all other problems that are, for example, there have just been a hypothetical example. You remember party B, okay, APC, then put it that way. I know a minister influenced your appointment as end of the visit. The minister expressed you to service certain politicians, expressed you to also service his ambition, if you have an ambition, or the ambition of his party in the States. So you probably went in with the mindset, he showed commitment to work. Now, it no comes from the minister. To tell you, my friend, you say, how much? I know how much they give to you. In fact, I influenced their amount. I want you to give Mr. A this, inflate the contract. This is going to be one billion, two billion, because I want to take care of his area for his consequence. I also want you to leave this area that you are talking about. Construct the one to my house. Look, there are so many variables. So even when you have the good intention, you find out that your hands are tight, your hands are fatter, by the superstructure. So these are some of the problems. Then when this happens, the end of the deal, we sit down to say, what took me now? I cannot bring the water and so we let them hide. Let me also do something to also get my own care of the money, the national care. And at the end of the day, nothing is left for you to do your job. These are some of the bottlenecks that most of them will not even explain to you. But that is the fact. Then you have the non-Samantha Delta militants. Those who are also going to take care of agendas to prevent a rehearse of the militants, the 222,000 and 222,000, 222,000 farms, so on. So what you do now is to also appease them. You give them contracts and they will also not take you to contract. But they know that it's not you you can't do. And your hands are soiled, you who don't take it, you don't do free hands. Your hands are also soiled. So you keep points. And there you say that you can't construct those who do your local government. This is one billion. If you hold a contract, it's 600 million. So put one billion. You'll give me 200 million. And you also take 200 million. The man goes to the 800 million man. He knows that nothing will come out of him in a society like Nigeria. And he does nothing. He's a type of militant. And this was what led to the groups. Because they realized that I'm talking about the militants now, that their bosses, their guys, were making a lot of money. And as a result of that, they started breaking the age. And that's why when this whole thing started in Nigeria, that they probably had one or two as head or heads of militants. But when they realized how much their bosses were making, they started breaking away from their own groups. And in the process, we now had over 100 militants fighting for, ostensibly fighting for, one call. Whereas they were actually fighting for their pockets. Let's look at the, because I mean, from all of the things that you said, this is an ongoing corruption that's been, you know, holding sway in the Niger Delta Commission. And it's not just under the Bahá'í administration. But then of course, but of course, the Bahá'í administration obviously is under a spotlight because this is the administration that promised us that they were going to put an end to corruption, plug all these loopholes. But there seems to remain that status quo. Do we ever see this breaking with a crop of people who are coming in? The government that is going to be sworn in May 29. The guys who are going to be leading the National Assembly, the APC being the majority in both the upper and the lower house. And guess who? The party, who the party is also saying this is who we're standing by as our Senate presidents. And this is who we want to be our speaker, knowing that Gospel of Krabi was at one point heading the NDDC. Do you see this coming to an end any times? You know, are we just going to continue in this endless conundrum? It's going to be a critical illusion to think that corruption in the NDDC and the corruption is inside. That's the purpose. I asked the question, where can it be anyway? If a group changes its spot, very very close on the way, but they change their spots, they change their spots, they will know. We might have to use left and right now. But then, even with the president elect, look at the baggage of the president elect, he is also next to corruption at the end of the year. And on one occasion has been convicted in event of a state, because he was made to pay $7,000 dollars. So that is conviction. He has been convicted. Then look at the, what is his name again, a party of the mic, of the mic. Why of the mic? Because he's scared that if they continue with the proceedings, he will be convicted. He was the end, he was the minister of the NDDC. The ending was under him. And if the ending is corrupt, he's corrupt because he did not squeal. He was not the one that told the world that this is the corruption, they're not in the commission. He killed an investigation carried on by the National Assembly. So even if he did not steal, as you know, we talk about conceiving, that he actually did not steal. He concealed it, which is even another dirty thing as guilty as the man that stole. So that is a fact. But we search him now. How do you expect to see it? In fact, the issue of the corruption in the NDDC commission will be completely swept under the carpet if he becomes the president elect. Then as for what is his name, the president elect. If he becomes the president of the country, I have my doubts. I've said it on several occasions that if we have 50% of corruption under Burma, I expect 80% to 90%. Really, why do you say that? Because we look at it. I think, I just gave you the 5 minutes. I told you, I told you, you was a deputy of the United States. But that's open about to be sincere. That's detail for so many people who we call our political leaders in this country. So many of them, we have a different field, Mr. President's cabinet. So what makes this different? In his own case, he has been convicted. He paid, but that's a penalty. Even if you're convicted and you're on parole, we have been convicted. That you're convicted does not mean you must win jail. You can be convicted, it could be suspended sentence. But the issue is you've been convicted. Even if you're on parole, you've been convicted. You must not be jailed. You must not be incarcerated in a particular area. Now, the point I'm trying to make is, you see, when you want to judge somebody, you go, you dig into his antecedents, and what you see of him at that moment, that is how you judge somebody. Until the person moves otherwise, then you can say, okay, he has adjoined the sentence. Until that person goes on. But till then, you still have that perception. This or that, we say, cease. And no matter what he says to you, as he's walking into your house, you're jittery. Because his record shows that he's a thief. Do you see him? He's not drunk. The same thing you said. I agree, you have repented of your sins. But even at that, this is your room. This is my room. And when you're sleeping, you lock your door. It is natural. So until we see, I have my doubts that there will be transparency in the next administration. On that ball and the team, I have my doubts. So he has to prove himself. He has to prove himself. But then, the only way, the issue of any decision can be addressed. If you have a man with right to cheat, a man who believes that on that worry, it is not as if we are himself, he's a thief. But we blame him because the ball stops at his table. And worry is a way of most of the things that are going on, but pretend they're not to know. He cannot, it's a matter of 12, the ball stops at his table. If the government is good, it takes a game. If the credit is bad, it takes a day. So in the fact coming at the social, everyone's confidence that the issue of corruption will be reduced just a few. Because I also don't have faith in the ball and the team. I don't have faith in it. All right. Well, what happens after May 29 remains to be seen. I want to say thank you. Ponaboy and Kotara is a public affairs analyst. Thank you so much for speaking with us. We appreciate it. All right. We'll take a short break. Now, when we return, we'll be talking about incacerations and persons waiting, or a waiting trial, and why we have so much congestion in Nigerian prisons. Stay with us. We'll be right back.