By SINL Reporter
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio on Friday reiterated that forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), was the best way of clearing the rot in the commission that had existed since its establishment.
He also called on all stakeholders including the National Assembly to genuinely support the effort of President Muhammadu Buhari in ensuring that the money for the NDDC is used for the people of the Niger Delta.
Akpabio spoke at the Senate Ad-hoc committee investigative public hearing on alleged N40billion financial recklessness by the Interim Management Committee ( IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) between January and March this year.
The minister canvassed that the National Assembly should check against abuses of the budgeting procedures of the Commission.
“The reason why you hear so much hue and cry about the NDDC is because of President Buhari’s approval for a Forensic Audit” Akpabio said.
Akpabio cited instances where money budgeted had been drastically and illegally reduced by some members of the National Assembly against the originally approved fund.
He added that the Niger Delta region can only get maximum benefit if “we rejig the way we do budgets for the NDDC”.
He pointed out that there has to be governance structure to regulate the way things are done at the Commission.
The Minister told the audience that close to a year of supervising the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry, he had never awarded except the contract for COVID-19 palliatives.
This comes as the immediate past Managing Director of NDDC, Dr Yimebe Nunieh declared that out of the entire N81billion spent by the Commission between October 29, 2019 to May 31, 2020, only N8billion was spent by IMC under her leadership between October 29, 2019 to February 28, 2020.
However making his presentation, the incumbent Managing Director, Professor Keme Pondei threatened to resign if allegations of corruptions levelled against his team of IMC, are proven.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the committee, Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi (APC Ekiti North), declared that the essence of the investigation was to make sure the common wealth of Niger Delta works for the people of the Niger Delta.
According to him, the investigation is not about missing money but about ensuring that money gets into the right pocket to promote the best interests of the Niger Delta region and its people.
The committee also told the minister that at the end of the investigation, those who specialize in hijacking Peoples money would be put out of business.
Also speaking, the former Managing Director of the Commission, Dr Yimebe Nunieh said out of the N81billion spent by the Commission between October last year to May this year only N8billion was expended by IMC under her leadership for the months period spent ( October 29, 2019 to February 18, 2020 .
She alleged at the sideline that Akpabio engineered her removal from office for failing to indict chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Peter Nwaoboshi on fraudulent contracts awards and executions .
“The Minister did all manner of dirty things to forcefully remove me out of office like sponsoring the vandalisation of Agip Trunk A pipeline in Bayelsa as a way of making the unsuspecting public to believe that the youths in the area are angry with NDDC under her leadership .
“He even made frantic attempts to force me to swear to fetish oath which I vehemently refused before he succeeded in getting me out of the place for sole purpose of having his way to run the place the way he likes under the present team of IMC”.
But a member of the current IMC, Evangelist Caroline Nagbo, debunked Nunieh claim.
“As far as I am concerned, as a member of the current Interim Management Committee of NDDC, I took oath of allegiance and not oath of fetishism from any body” Nagbo said .
