The forensic report on how N6trillion approved for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for award and execution of contracts for the impoverished oil-rich region was squandered, in nowhere to be found.
Mr. Abubakar Momoh, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, says neither the Permanent Secretary in the ministry nor other top officials had been able to provide him a copy of the report when he requested for it since his assumption of office.
The money was allegedly wasted by successive managements of the NDDC through sleazy deals and bogus contracts between 2001 and 2019.
Mr. Momoh said since his assumption of office last year and till date, no one can tell where the report is, though it was submitted to the immediate past president, General Muhammadu Buhari, through his Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami.
Speaking on Channels TV Morning Brief on Tuesday, Momoh however said action would be taken against persons found culpable whenever the missing forensic report was found.
While receiving the voluminous final forensic report in sacks on behalf of General Buhari from a former Minister of the Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who is the incumbent President of the Senate, on Thursday, September 2, 2021, Malami had expressed regret that the execution of 13,777 projects were largely compromised and a huge chunk of funds the Commission received, diverted into private pockets.
“I welcome you all to the presentation of the Report on the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Commission (NDDC), which report I am to receive on behalf of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
“You will recall the President had ordered for a holistic forensic audit of the activities of the Commission from inception to August 2019 in response to the yearnings of the people the Niger Delta Region to reposition it for effective service delivery.
“It is imperative to state that, the call for the audit by the people of the Niger Delta Region arose from the huge gaps between resources invested in the region vis a vis the huge gap in infrastructural, human and economic development”, Malami had noted.
The former Minister of Justice had also expressed the Federal Government’s concern that the NDDC operated a total of 362 bank accounts, leading to “lack of proper reconciliation of accounts”, just as he gave assurance that the funds that were not properly utilized for the public purposes, they were meant for will be recovered.
The Presidency and top officials at the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs contacted by Scudnews for comments on the whereabouts of the forensic report were unwilling to discuss the issue.
