DESOPADEC Board Tenure Elongation: Civil Society Demands Probe of 50% Share of 13% Oil Derivation Fund

The Niger Delta Civil Society Forum (NCSF) has called for an immediate investigation into the management of the 50 percent share of the 13 Percent Oil Derivation Fund allocated to the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), following the recent one-year tenure elongation granted to the Commission’s Governing Board.

The forum described the extension of the board’s tenure on May 26, 2026, as questionable and capable of undermining public trust, accountability and transparency in the management of resources meant for oil-producing communities in Delta State.

In a strongly worded statement signed by the Forum’s Coordinator, Comrade Ezekiel Kagbala, in Warri, Delta State, the group insisted that the state government ought to have compelled the board to publicly render a comprehensive account of its stewardship before considering any extension of tenure.

According to the Forum, if the board had genuinely performed creditably, there would have been visible and measurable developmental impacts across the mandate oil-producing communities. It added that where such impacts are absent, the board should have exited honourably to allow more competent and impactful leadership reposition the commission.

The group expressed concern that the tenure elongation may have been orchestrated to shield the current leadership of the commission from public scrutiny, accountability and possible probes over the management of funds accruing from the 13 Percent Oil Derivation allocation.

“While the state government claimed that the tenure extension was to ensure leadership continuity under the chairmanship of Olorogun John Nani until May 29, 2027, the people of the Niger Delta deserve to ask fundamental questions: What exactly has this board achieved? Where are the transformative projects across the oil-producing communities that justify continuity?” the statement queried.

The Forum lamented what it described as the alarming absence of impactful infrastructural and Socioeconomic projects in host communities despite the huge resources channelled into DESOPADEC over the years.

“It is difficult to justify this continuity when the commission has failed to convincingly demonstrate seamless delivery of meaningful development projects to mandate communities across Delta State,” the statement added.

The NCSF further alleged that DESOPADEC has over the years operated as “a conduit pipe through which the 13 Percent Derivation Fund is continuously mismanaged and left largely unaccounted for.”

The Forum recalled that DESOPADEC was established under the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission Law, 2007, during the administration of former Governor James Ibori, with a clear mandate to address underdevelopment, environmental degradation and infrastructural deficits in oil-bearing communities.

Citing Section 13(1) of the DESOPADEC Law, 2007, the group noted that the Commission is statutorily empowered to receive and exclusively administer 50 percent of the 13 Percent Oil Derivation Fund accruing to the Delta State Government.

The statement stressed that the law was enacted specifically to rehabilitate and develop oil-producing communities through the provision of roads, healthcare, education, potable water, electricity and other socio-economic amenities, and not to transform the commission into what it described as “a political compensation institution for loyalists and cronies.”

The Forum maintained that the persistent underdevelopment, poverty and neglect still visible in many oil-producing communities raise serious concerns over how billions of naira allocated to DESOPADEC have been managed over the years.

Consequently, the NCSF called on the Federal Government, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the National Assembly Public Accounts Committees and other anti-corruption and oversight agencies to immediately commence a full-scale forensic investigation into the management and utilisation of the 50 percent share of the 13 Percent Oil Derivation Fund domiciled in DESOPADEC.

The group insisted that what the people of the Niger Delta urgently need is not tenure elongation but transparency, accountability, prudent management of public resources and visible development capable of improving the living conditions of oil-producing communities across Delta State.