By Emeka Amaefula
WHAT ALBERT K. HORSFALL REVEALED ABOUT UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF NIGER DELTA REGION BY THE PRESIDENCY & MAFIA
REAL REASONS NDDC IS A CASH COW FOR POLITICIANS
( First published by Towncrier on January 13th 2021)
All efforts by agitating groups in the Niger Delta to secure even and meaningful development for their communities—communities from which the nation’s hydrocarbon wealth is extracted—appear to have hit the rocks. This situation is tied to the political manipulations and cosmetic gestures from Abuja, Nigeria’s political capital, which led to the creation of interventionist agencies such as the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) and later the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), established by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 as an attempt to appease the long-standing grievances of the oil-bearing communities.
This author now exposes revelations made by Chief Albert Korubo Horsfall—former Chairman of OMPADEC, former Director-General of the National Security Organization (now DSS), lawyer, and technocrat. In his book “The OMPADEC DREAM,” Horsfall recounts how, during his tenure under Military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, certain individuals infiltrated the Commission with the intent to derail genuine development efforts in the Niger Delta.
Despite the trillions of naira appropriated over the years for NDDC, there is little to show in terms of infrastructure or measurable human-capital development. These outcomes fall far below the financial resources appropriated annually by the National Assembly for the region.
Over the years, several staff members of the Commission have been interrogated by anti-graft agencies for various financial infractions, with numerous former directors currently facing trial. Cases include the matter involving a former NDDC Director and the EFCC, as well as the more recent questioning of Acting Managing Director Professor Nelson Brambaifa and Acting Executive Director of Finance and Administration Dr. Chris Amadi over an alleged unauthorized withdrawal of N2.8 billion.
Politicians, at various times, have turned the NDDC into a cash cow, enriching cronies through contract padding and other fraudulent practices.
Most troubling is the political expediency of certain power blocs—particularly northern oligarchic interests—that allegedly prefer to keep the Niger Delta underdeveloped. Their motive, as Horsfall narrates, is to maintain political control by ensuring the region remains dependent and aligned during elections, thereby contributing its voting strength to complement northern population dominance.
This context recalls Dr. Adebayo Williams’ famous words:
“A properly educated mind will refuse to accept crude tyranny… Long after the guns have been silenced, the supersonic boom of ideas, the thunderous artillery of thinking will continue to echo.”
Horsfall’s Shocking Revelation
On page 106 of The OMPADEC DREAM, in a chapter titled “Financial and Other Forms of Sabotage,” Horsfall recounts a disturbing encounter: “I had just finished addressing a one-month orientation course for newly recruited senior staff and stepped into the lobby when a senior public servant visiting from the Presidency sought to speak to me on a ‘delicate’ issue… What the fellow narrated that evening at my residence startled me.”
According to this account, a Commissioner confided in the visitor that he served on the OMPADEC Board as a representative of a powerful political caucus whose aim was to secretly control government policies.
Horsfall continues: “This caucus had at several meetings resolved that despite the high levels of agitation, the Niger Delta Sub-Region must not be effectively developed for fear that such development—especially human development—would ‘liberate’ its citizens, giving them freedom to change political alliances, thereby causing him and his political friends to lose their grip on the Niger Delta, the country’s energy and industrial power base.”
This revelation, Horsfall noted, was breathtaking and disturbing.
He further writes: “The Commissioner claimed that the caucus had sponsored him for appointment to the Board because attempts to dissuade President Babangida from granting 3% revenue to oil-bearing areas and creating OMPADEC had failed. His mission was to manipulate the Commission to achieve the objectives of the caucus.”
When Horsfall resisted these manipulations by refusing questionable appointments and blocking suspicious requests, the caucus allegedly resolved to wreck the Commission and destroy his leadership.
Horsfall wrote a six-point memo to President Babangida, discussed the matter with him, and maintained course.
However, the aftermath was devastating: “The Commissioner and his caucus friends sowed the seeds for financial and political sabotage that eventually brought down the coordinated and functional Board of the Commission and replaced it with a ramshackle Sole Administration ordered to demolish the essence of OMPADEC.”
He recounts how plans, projects, and developmental initiatives painstakingly executed over three years were stalled, vandalized, or diverted. Funds were siphoned until Professor Sam Aluko’s National Economic Intelligence Committee intervened.
Cosmetic Development vs. Real Development
Horsfall explains that detractors championed cosmetic development—boreholes, generator-powered electricity, classroom blocks, and other short-term projects—accompanied by heavy propaganda to deceive the public.
His Board insisted on real, long-term development capable of economically empowering the region and addressing environmental degradation caused by oil extraction. The constitutionally approved 3% oil revenue, though inadequate, would have been sufficient at the time had it been regularly released.
But it never was—due to manipulation from entrenched interests.
NDDC Today: A Continuation of the Old Playbook
Relating Horsfall’s experience to today’s NDDC under Acting Managing Director Professor Nelson Brambaifa—who is said to rely on his son as Chief of Staff allegedly performing official duties—raises concerns. The dissolution of the Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba-led Board, after key resignations, left a vacuum that should have been filled immediately with a newly constituted Board.
Under the Buhari administration, a Forensic Audit of NDDC finances was conducted. Although submitted, the full report remains under judicial scrutiny, with expectations that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government may finally release it in late 2025.
Insiders claim the report contains names of politicians who used NDDC as a personal cash cow for years.
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Emeka Amaefula
+234 (0)811 181 3069
