By Muazu Elazeh

As I turned on my computer to write this week, I found myself torn between commenting on the recent judgment by Justice Gladys Olotu, which ordered the Nigerian government to make public the report of the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the troubling resurgence of terror attacks and abductions.

After a moment of reflection, I settled on both because the NDDC scandal is troubling just as the attacks, especially the abduction of schoolchildren, which have once again forced a wave of school closures in Plateau, Bauchi, Niger, Kebbi and other states in the north. In my view, corruption, which is the root cause of the nation’s seemingly intractable security problems, is the common thread that ties both issues together, rendering the nation a state of constant movement without progress.

Indeed, Nigeria is labouring under an illusion of self-motion, swaying gently back and forth in response to the security challenges and monumental corruption that rebound on the country. It is difficult not to be alarmed by the sheer mismanagement that has defined the NDDC, just as it is difficult not to worry about the escalating insecurity and the resulting closure of schools, a development that suggests that Boko Haram and its affiliates, who have always preached against Western education, are winning.

In the past two weeks, Nigeria has been struggling to understand the rising wave of school abductions and kidnappings at places of worship, which has since led to school closures. When the Eruku incident happened, it felt like a scene from a tragic film. As the nation wrestled with the audacity of those who stormed the church at Eruku, we were hit with the Maga abduction in Kebbi State, only to be followed by the Papiri kidnapping in Niger State.

The sheer number of victims in each of these attacks makes one wonder how the terrorists manage to escape with such boldness. The Kebbi State Commissioner of Information and Culture, Yakubu Ahmed, said on an international television that the terrorists who abducted the schoolgirls at Maga, in the Danko/Wasagu council area, rode into the community on over sixty motorcycles. How does such a convoy move unnoticed?

Even more troubling is Governor Nasir Idris’ revelation that the terrorists attacked the school barely 45 minutes after military personnel, who were deployed there following intelligence of a possible attack, withdrew from their posts.

Let’s be clear: there was intelligence about a possible attack. Soldiers were deployed to prevent the attack. They withdrew. And less than an hour later, the terrorists stormed the school, killed a guard and the vice principal, and abducted 25 girls whose only offence was daring to seek education. Stories like this make one wonder if we are serious people.

Like many Nigerians, I also asked: who ordered the soldiers to withdraw? And is it out of place to suspect complicity? The Defence Headquarters said it is investigating the matter. But given the scale of corruption that has permeated the system, can anything meaningful come out of that probe?

In the midst of this, the government announced the rescue of 35 worshippers abducted at the Kwara church in a manner that left so many posers. What happened to the abductors? So, the troops rescued the abductees without a gun duel with the abductors? How come there has been no arrest of the abductors? Something is not adding up. The entire process is marred by a glaring lack of transparency, which lends credence to the widespread allegations of complicity.

Whether we are talking about the NDDC scandal or the worsening insecurity that has exposed the government’s failure to protect lives and property, there is one common denominator: pervasive corruption.

This is why Justice Gladys Olotu’s ruling in the case brought by SERAP and four other Nigerians over the alleged N6 trillion scandals at the NDDC offers President Bola Tinubu yet another opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to fighting corruption.

It is heartening to note that the ruling directed the president to publish the names of those implicated in the long-standing allegations of massive looting that have defined the NDDC. It also requires him to make public the much-talked-about forensic audit report of the Commission’s operations.

The NDDC, established in 2000, was supposed to drive development in the Niger Delta region, which has been heavily burdened by decades of oil exploration, environmental degradation, poverty, and social unrest. It was created to address these challenges and improve the lives of the people whose land has sustained the nation for years since oil was discovered in commercial quantities.

Yet, despite billions of naira budgeted annually, the states that make up the NDDC: Rivers, Ondo, Imo, Abia, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, and Edo, have very little to show for it. Instead, the Commission became, for some, a cash cow, with funds meant for development siphoned daily by a few privileged individuals.

In 2019, the late former President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the NDDC, covering the period from 2001 to 2019, following widespread allegations of corruption. The audit reportedly indicted several influential individuals for mismanaging a staggering N6 trillion. However, because those implicated belonged to the class often described as untouchable, the report never saw the light of day. The government went silent.

But SERAP refused to let the matter die. The organisation approached the courts to challenge the government’s silence—a silence many Nigerians have rightly interpreted as complicity. Interestingly, Justice Olotu agreed with the strength of their arguments and ordered President Tinubu to instruct the Attorney General of the Federation to publish the names of those indicted in the alleged misappropriation of the funds meant for the 13,777 abandoned projects under the NDDC between 2000 and 2019.

The court further ordered the government to make public the entire forensic audit report submitted on 2 September 2021.

Now the big question: will the president obey the court order? Beyond publishing names, will those indicted ever be held accountable? Will they return any part of the funds they looted? And why should the president wait for a court order to expose those behind one of the biggest financial scandals in our recent history?.

While the nation awaits the President’s compliance with the court order, Nigerians must commend SERAP for its consistency in advocating for a better country. At a time when revenue allocation to both national and subnational governments has increased significantly, yet citizens see minimal improvement in their daily lives, organisations like SERAP, which have been trying against all odds to hold the government to account, deserve all the support and accolades they can get from Nigerians.

One moral burden that every administration in Nigeria, whether federal or state, has had to carry is corruption. And what else can one expect from a country ranked the 36th most corrupt in the world, according to Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perception Index?

If the government is serious about tackling insecurity, then it must first be serious about fighting corruption. And there is always somewhere to begin. Making the NDDC forensic audit report public and ensuring those indicted face the consequences would be a good starting point.