By Etim Etim
The appointment of Pastor (Barr) Effiong Akwa last week as the Interim Administrator of NDDC by President Muhammadu Buhari signals the government’s determination to a timely conclusion of the overhaul and repositioning of the agency as promised by the President. President Buhari is bent on having the forensic audit of the commission concluded.
He will leave no stone unturned in getting it done. Until this elevation, Mr. Akwa was executive director of the commission, in charge of finance and administration. It is quite a fortuitous rise, an unexpected outcome of the brutal opposition that trailed the appointment of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) for the commission last year.
The hostility grew in leaps and bounds, taking various forms and shapes like false allegations, dubious petitions, National Assembly hearings and eventually a plethora of litigations that resulted in a restraining order issued recently against the IMC by a Federal High Court.
Mr Akwa was not a member of the IMC when the court cases were filed against members of the IMC, and so the court order did not affect him. He automatically became the most senior director left behind and the President promptly made the Interim Administrator. This means Mr. Akwa is the chief executive and sole administrator of the agency. His main preoccupation, I understand, is to supervise the implementation of the forensic audit exercise and bring it to a quick conclusion. But can he close it?
The new Interim Administrator is an accomplished lawyer and accountant who is well prepared for the task. By his training, orientation, and character, Mr. Akwa will get the audit done on time and within budget. He has the track record of a consummate professional, well-trained banker, and a quintessential executive. I first met him in 2010 when he was the chief executive of Akwa Ibom State-owned mortgage bank, Akwa Savings and Loans Limited, and I the regional manager of Access Bank in charge of Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
Access Bank provided some correspondent banking services to Akwa Savings then, and that meant I had to develop a close business relationship with its chief executive. On his retirement from the bank in 2012, Mr. Akwa was appointed SA (Finance) to the MD of NDDC. I soon found out that Mr. Akwa was also a Deacon, and later elevated pastor, in the parish of the Redeemed Christian Church where I worship in Uyo. That again brought us closer and closer. Surely, this administrator is a worker in the Lord’s vineyard who has received God’s favours in bountiful ways.
Effiong Akwa is the third Akwa Ibomite to manage the interventionist agency since its creation 18 years ago after Barr. Bassey Dan Abia (2012-2015) and Obong Nsima Ekere (2016 – 2018). Both men are celebrated for their achievements at the NDDC and their contributions to the development of the region. Incidentally, both are also well known to me. But for Mr. Akwa, his tenure is expected to be very consequential.
The forensic audit ordered by President Buhari into NDDC since last year which Mr. Akwa will deliver early in the New Year should result in the restructuring of the commission into a new and well-managed organization that is expected to deliver on its mandate. As a key stakeholder in our region, I am convinced that the Interim Administrator will close the forensic audit creditably well. The audit will not, and has never been intended, to witch-hunt any of the past executives, much less an Akwa Ibom son, contrary to many speculations.
I congratulate Mr. Akwa on his appointment, and commend Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, recommending Mr Akwa to the president. At the recent meeting of the National Council on the Niger Delta held in Port Harcourt last week – his first public outing since appointment – Mr. Akwa gave an indication of what his agenda would be: collaboration with state governments and other stakeholders, executing major projects and creating an environment for enduring peace and development in the region.
I should note that Akwa’s appointment as a Sole Administrator of the agency is not unprecedented. In 2016, Mrs Ibim Seminitari was so appointed to take over from Mr. Dan-Abia from Akwa Ibom State contrary to the NDDC Act which stipulates that whenever a vacancy occurs in the Board, such a vacancy should be filled by someone representing the same interest (state). Thus someone from Akwa Ibom should have been appointed to complete Dan-Abia’s tenure. Today, the lot has fallen on an Akwa Ibom son to run the commission as a sole Administrator. I, therefore, appeal to all the people of the Niger Delta region to give peace a chance and support Mr. Akwa who is a seasoned professional and is capable of effectively getting the forensic audit concluded.
