By SINL Reporter
The acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei has alleged that the agency’s 2019 budget was padded with 500 new, non existing projects.
Professor Pondei, made the disclosure in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, stressing that a huge amount of money was appropriated for bogus projects.
He was reacting to allegations of corruption levelled against the Commission’s interim management committee.
Recall, in October 2019, President Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the operations of the NDDC. Pondei is leading the President’s forensic audit.
He said “We discovered that after NDDC forwarded its budget to the national assembly committees on NDDC, what was sent back to the commission was no longer recognisable,” Pondei said.
“The 2019 budget was classically over padded, with almost 500 new projects inserted to it when it was sent back to us.
“We found out the budget appropriation was done in such a way that meaningful projects were allocated very little sums of money.
“It is unfortunate that the 2019 budget will expire on May 31 without any project executed in the region. It was passed two months to the end of its implementation period.”
Pondei also alleged that some members of the national assembly have put pressure on the agency not to submit certain files to forensic auditors.
