Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has
sacked the board of Niger Delta Development
Commission, the agency responsible for
development of the oil-producing Niger Delta,
over large-scale fraud on awarding contracts
for projects in the restive region, according to a
government statement Wednesday.
This action follows the submission and
consideration of a report by a government
committee that investigated a new crisis in the
NDDC last July, the statement said.
A new board for the commission would be
constituted soon, it added. The president on July 27 ordered an investigation to be carried out on the NDDC following agitations by communities in the oil regions over neglect and the many abandoned projects in the area.

The investigation panel was charged with the
task of assessing and evaluating some NDDC
projects, evaluating contractors pre-
qualification process by the commission, as well
as probing the involvement of the NDDC board,
management and staff in awarding contracts.
The state news agency NAN reported on
Wednesday that Jonathan has ordered security
agencies to take action on contractors that
defaulted in executing the projects, even after
receiving funds.

"Project abandonment is totally unacceptable to
us," Jonathan said. "The era of contractors
taking money and not doing their work is over.
If the NDDC is to act as a catalyst for
development in the Niger Delta, then we must
act to redeem the situation," he added.
It would be the third major probe of the NDDC
in the past three years, over fraudulent
activities in the commission over which at least
two chief executives had been sacked.
The NDDC has an annual budget of about Naira
100 billion ($643 million), drawn from
contributions from the government and oil
companies, to provide infrastructure in the
impoverished Niger Delta, which accounts for
nearly all of Nigeria's 2.6 million b/d of oil
output.
Lack of development in the region is one of the
grievances of communities and militants who
launched a violent campaign of sabotage
against Nigeria's oil industry between 2006 and
2009, reducing its oil output by more than a
quarter. catalyst for
development in the Niger Delta, then we must
act to redeem the situation," he added.
It would be the third major probe of the NDDC
in the past three years, over fraudulent
activities in the commission over which at least
two chief executives had been sacked.
The NDDC has an annual budget of about Naira
100 billion ($643 million), drawn from
contributions from the government and oil
companies, to provide infrastructure in the
impoverished Niger Delta, which accounts for
nearly all of Nigeria's 2.6 million b/d of oil
output.
Lack of development in the region is one of the
grievances of communities and militants who
launched a violent campaign of sabotage
against Nigeria's oil industry between 2006 and
2009, reducing its oil output by more than a
quarter.