The attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Mr. Abu-Bakr Malami, has said that N6 trillion was allocated to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2001 and 2019.
He disclosed this when the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, submitted the forensic audit report on the commission in Abuja yesterday.
Giving a breakdown of the receipts, the minister said within 19 years from 2001 to 2019, the federal government approved over N3.3 trillion to the agency as budgetary allocation, and N2.4 trillion as “income from statutory and non-statutory sources.”
This, according to him, “brings the total figure to approximately N6 trillion given to the commission.
“The federal government is particularly concerned with the colossal loss occasioned by uncompleted and unverified development projects in the Niger Delta region, in spite of the huge resources made available to uplift the living standard of the citizens.
“It is evident that considerable resources have been channeled by the Federal Government to the development of the Niger Delta from 2001 to 2019,” said Malami who received the report on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He added that despite the huge spending, “we have on record over 13,777 projects, the execution of which is substantially compromised.”
Apart from poorly executed or non-execution of contracts, Malami pointed out to the issue of the agency running 362 bank accounts resulting in lack of proper reconciliation of accounts.
“The federal government is also concerned with the multitudes of NNDC’s bank accounts amounting to 362 and lack of proper reconciliation of accounts,” Malami said.
The attorney general said the president had directed that the audit report be forwarded to the federal ministry of justice “for a legal review and relevant ministries, departments and agencies of government will be engaged in doing justice to the findings accordingly”.
Although he did not give timeline, the minister said criminal investigations, prosecution, and recovery of improperly used funds would be initiated.
“The federal government will in consequence apply the law to remedy the deficiencies outlined in the audit report as appropriate.
“This will include but not limited to initiation of criminal investigations, prosecution, recovery of funds not properly utilized for the public purposes for which they were meant for review of the laws to reposition and restructure the NDDC for the efficiency of better service delivery amongst others.
“In all these instances of actions, legal due processes will strictly be complied with,” he said.
Malami also said it is important for “the public to be properly informed of what has been spent and how that has been spent” by the NDDC.
He said the essence of the forensic audit carried out on the NDDC “is to ensure probity and accountability in the use of public funds”.
“It is against this background that the Federal Government will without hesitation strategically implement all aspects of the audit exercise that will promote probity and greater prosperity for the Niger Delta Region and Nigeria as whole,” he said.
According to him, the auditors comprised the Lead Forensic auditors and the 16 field audit firms with a security committee for securing the lives and properties of the audit firms throughout the duration of the forensic audit exercise.
Earlier, Akpabio said thatthe report of the audit committee showed that there were over 13,000 abandoned projects in the Niger Delta region adding that even before the submission of the report some contractors had returned to site on their own and completed about 77 road projects.
He said although the exercise had a checkered history, he thanked the president and all those who supported and ensured its success.
The minister said the exercise was not done to witch-hunt anyone but to ensure that the huge sums of funds committed to the area yearly were justified.
He further said the region had remained backward since 1958 in spite of successive governments’ efforts through the creation of various interventionist programmers and projects.
Lead forensic auditor, Mr. Jabir Ahmed, in a brief overview of the report, said the team recommended managerial as well as structural changes, chief of which is the downsizing of the NDDC’s board.
He said to reduce cost the team recommended that members of the team should henceforth be appointed on a part-time basis.
Ahmed also disclosed that oil companies in the country are still in default of their contributions to the commission.
“We recommended that the government should withdraw the license of any oil company which defaults for a period of three years.
“Also, deduction of 15 per cent ecological fund at source and be paid to the commission because both the federal and state governments have failed to make payments to the commission.
“The team recommended as a measure of effective revenue collections, the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) should collect funds on behalf of NDDC from oil companies in the country,” he added.
