According to the NDDC Act 2000 (as amended), all International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger Delta Region are to provide interventions in oil-producing states.
The House of Representatives has directed all oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to adhere to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act, just as it resolved to investigate the flagrant disobedience by the companies.
These decisions were contained in a motion on the ‘Need to Compel the International Oil Companies Operating in the Niger Delta Region to Comply with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act’ brought by Rep. Donald Kimikanboh Ojogo (APC, Ondo).
In his debate, Rep. Ojogo noted that the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act, 2000 was in response to heightened agitations and violent yearnings for special intervention in oil-producing States. The states listed in this regard were Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers as enshrined in Section 2 (1) of the subject under debate.
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The lawmaker noted that Section 14 (1) of the NDDC Act states: “The Commission shall establish and maintain a Fund from which shall defrayed expenditures incurred by the Commission.
(2) There shall be paid and credited to the Fund established under subsection (1) of this section: (a) from the Federal Government, the equivalent of 15 percent of the total monthly statutory allocations due to member States of the Commission from the Federation Account; this being the contribution of the Federal Government to the Commission-
(b) 3 percent of the total annual budget of any oil producing company operating, onshore and offshore, in the Niger-Delta Area; including gas processing companies;
(c)50 percent of monies due to member States of the Commission from the Ecological Fund, (d) such monies as may from time to time, be granted or lent to or deposited with the Commission by the Federal or a State Government, any other body or institution whether local or foreign.”
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The lawmaker further stated that while the Federal Government has adhered to Section 14 (1) (a), the International Oil Companies (IOCs) have continually subjected Section 14(1)(b) to total neglect and distasteful disrespect, thereby putting the NDDC in a state of fiscal incapacity. This, he noted has culminated in serious indebtedness to contractors; more so, that, the NDDC is being owed $4 billion by the IOCs.
According to him, the indebtedness of the IOCs to the NDDC had culminated in the drive by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence the debt recovery process.
He worried that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its recovery process, has continually held on to all such recovered monies without remitting the same to the NDDC for the Commission to meet its obligations.
