ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, YENAGOA
The Federal High Court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has granted an ex parte application filed by an advocacy group, Patriotism Advancement and Community Orientation Network (PACON), and Ebikebuna Augustine Aluzu, as first and second applicants to compel the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to account for its budget from 2018 to 2020.
The applicants also sought an order for leave to bring an application for judicial review against the NDDC which is the respondent in suit No. FHC/YNG/CS/6/2021.
In the affidavit in support of the ex parte motion deposed to, by Ebikebuna Augustine Aluzu, a legal practitioner and Chairman, Board of Trustees of PACON (the first applicant) said: “NDDC has enjoyed uninterrupted funding by the Federal Government to develop the Niger Delta region including Bayelsa State since its establishment in 2000.
“However, the applicants have not felt the needed presence of the NDDC (respondent) in Bayelsa State with abandoned projects littered within and outside the state capital.
“In line with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the applicants made a request to the respondent for it to be provided with certified true copies of certain information including the respondent’s approved budget for the year 2018, 2019 and 2020 and list of the respondent’s projects in Bayelsa State in a letter acknowledged on December 21, 2020 which the respondent has refused, failed and or neglected to provide the applicants with.”
Aluzu further said: “Unless the application is granted for the applicants to come by way of a judicial review to compel the respondent to provide the information sought, the respondent will continue to fail, refuse and or neglect to provide the applicants with the requested information.”
The matter was adjourned to March 5, 2021, for a hearing.