Edge's News: NDDC Received N6trn in 19 Years, Operated 362 Bank Accounts.....forensic audit reveals!!!

The Niger Delta Development Commission received about N6 trillion between 2001 and 2019 as budgetary allocation and income from statutory and non statutory sources, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, disclosed this Thursday while receiving the forensic audit report on NDDC.

Malami, who received the report on behalf of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, assured that the forensic audit report will be critically analysed for necessary action and implementation.

The Justice Minister who spoke shortly after he received the Forensic Audit Report from the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said there was evidence of substantial compromise in the execution of 13,777 as well as the existence of “multitudes of Niger Delta Development Commission’s bank accounts amounting to 362” which lacked proper reconciliation of accounts.

Delivering the President’s remarks, Malami said there was nothing tangible on ground to show in the Niger Delta region for the huge funds committed over the years through the NDDC, which many has described as a conduit pipe for politicians in siphoning trillions of naira.

He relayed President Buhari’s assurance that the federal government will take necessary measures to recover misappropriated funds in the running of the Commission between 2001 and 2019.

Malami said the president had directed that the forensic audit report be forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Justice for necessary action.

He said the Buhari administration was worried about 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. It is therefore important for the Federal Government and the public to be properly informed of what has been spent and how that has been spent,” he said.

According to him, “It is on record that between 2001 and 2019, the Federal Government has approved N3, 375, 735,776,794.93 Three Trillion, Three Hundred and Seventy Five Billion, Seven Hundred and Seventy Six Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety Four Naira, Ninety Three Kobo as budgetary allocation and N2,420,948,894,191.00 Two Trillion, Four Hundred and Twenty Billion, Nine Hundred and Forty Million, and, Eight Hundred and Ninety Four Thousand, One Hundred and Ninety One Naira as Income from Statutory and Non Statutory Sources, which brings the total figure to the sum of approximately Six Trillion Naira given to the Niger Delta Development Commission”.

Buhari had in October 2019 ordered a holistic forensic audit of the NDDC from when it was established till August 2019 in response to the yearnings of the people to make the commission more effective and result oriented.