Ogona Anita
A stakeholders forum to drive conversation around corruption in the Niger Delta, organized by Social Development Integrated Centre, aka Social Action on Tuesday May 27th, 2025 unveiled citizens report of constituency projects tracking in selected states during the Niger Delta Anti-Corruption Learning Summit with theme “Building Stakeholders Resilience for Sustained Accountability and Development in the Niger Delta” held in PortHarcourt.
The Programme coordinator of Social Action, Bolti Isaac during the unveiling of the report said the report focuses on how constituency projects are implemented.
“There has been corruption around how the constituency projects are done. Fifty percent of the over 200 projects will monitored were not in existence. The report will serve as a basis for further advocacy.it was tracked in five states” Mr Isaac said
Earlier, Executive Director of Social Action, Dr. Isaac Osuoka said “it is the continuation of the fight against corruption and enthronement of accountability in Niger Delta.and the country at large
“I thank our civil society allies,media and MacArthur foundation for their support.
“Pollution in this part of the world is the worst. People in this country are still treated as colonial subject without rights and privildges.Part of the challenge is corruption with idea that people in public office can use fund for private gain.
“Large sums of money are budgeted for constituency projects, the impact can hardly be seen. Funds wasted, swallowed by fathom projects with nothing to show for.
“We have situation where those in power keep people impoverished. They weaponize poverty in order to turn them to political thugs. We call on those marginalized to realize their situation and resist it.
“Corruption is happening even in our churches and mosques. Scriptures are misinterpreted to rob the poor. A situation where religious leaders cannot tackle those in power due to their wrong deeds. The Niger Delta, the country at large cannot continue the way is going. We need a change.
“Every system must be judged by how the system responds to the most vulnerable If you want to judge dividends of democracy, you have to go to the water side,the communities to see their hospitals, roads. Today in Rivers state no pipe borne water. Majority of people are still drinking water containing benzene, chromium everyday. Rivers State, Niger Delta should take a stand against impunity and corruption.
“In our discussions about resilence against corruption,we cannot achieve the change we want if we do not achieve electoral justice”..
Representative of EFCC, Mr Elijah Bakam in his goodwill message said “while we rub minds to fight the cancer, we are too rich to be poor because we are so endowed. Citizens response to the fight against corruption is too low. For instance, We have gathering of parents promoting corruption of various grades like cybercrime”.
Representative of ICPC, Mrs Ekere Usiere in her goodwill message said “we are very passionate in the fight against corruption. Before corruption kills us, we need to kill corruption. We have system that tracks constituency projects. Let us start changing the way we look at things Projects assigned to our communities are our projects”.
Dr Etim Frank,Department of Political Sciences and Public Administration, University of Uyo while presenting a paper on “Sustaining Collaboration for Inclusive Development and Public Accountability in the Niger Delta said EFCC and ICPC needs to lay bare their ideas and processes because the idea of petitioning ICPC and EFCC before they get into action is becoming tedious.
“We are here because of our resource is not working for us. Nigeria has become poverty capital of the world and poverty in Niger Delta is taking another dimension We are here to look at future of our children when the oil is no longer there.
“Corruption is a hydra headed monster in Niger Delta. He defined Corruption as “Arrested development”. No House of Assembly is able to check excesses of the executive in Niger Delta. He also noted that one day, the crude oil in Niger Delta must dry up no matter how much we will pray. So we must use our resources to secure our future before the our oil dry up” he said.
correspondent Anita Ogona reports that there was two panel discussions,the first one was on ” Utilizing BO Register As A Tool for Promoting Accountability” while the second one was on “Diverse Perspectives on challenges and solutions for sustaining anti-corruption efforts in the Niger Delta”..
Eastwestreporters Reports that Civil Society Actors from different states in South -South regions, students community, Government officials, the media were all in attendance.
