A Town hall meeting to examine the impact and espouse action plan of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC in Benin City, Edo State Capital, has recommended the inclusion of stakeholders participation in operations and budgetary processes of the Commission.

The measure is aimed at reversing the litany of corruption arising from 12, 000 abandoned projects in the Niger Delta region as contained in the recent forensic report of NDDC between 2001 and 2019 of the Commission which was established by an Act of Parliament in year 2000.

Dr. Osasu Isibor, the National Organising Secretary of Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, HostCom and Mr. Botti Isaac, Programmes Coordinator of Social Action, Ekpen Kelvin Edigin, the Edigin N’Use of Benin made this known in a Communiqué at the weekend in Edo State.

The meeting was conceived in the frame of the ongoing project on “Strengthening Civic and Community Actions against Corruption in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC” supported by the MacArthur Foundation, which offers a lot of learning opportunities for responsibility bearers especially youths, civil society Olorganisations, host Communities, religious and traditional rulers.

The Community also recommended the use of legal instruments including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in Budget tracking, Budget Evaluation and other critical components of Budgeting process to engender trust and transparency.

Part of the Communiqué read, “That there should be inclusive community participation in project design and implementation of all NDDC Projects.

“That community impact assessment should be community driven with the full involvement of youths, women and traditional leaders in the project circle.

“That psychological evaluation and improved value systems should be instilled on leaders, youths that are prune to inducement.

“That the freedom of information act and other legal instruments should be used to get the budgetary allocations of the NDDC.

“That government should encourage Citizen’s accountability in effective Community project implementation by engaging anti-corruption agencies when necessary to access relevant documents, according to the Communiqué.

 28 total views