By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
A group, Social Action International has called on President Muhammadu Buhari led administration to embrace transparency by ensuring that all aspects of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) forensic audit report is made available to the public with all sense of responsibility
Recalled that in October 2020, the media was filled with several reports of the unprecedented and monumental corruption manifesting in extensive contract frauds, procurement law infractions, non-budgetary and extra-budgetary spending, audit violations, fiscal recklessness and flagrant disregard to procedural rules as well as other financial malpractices levelled against the management of NDDC.
Following a public outcry over the monumental level of corruption exposed by the Senate Ad-Hoc committee on NDDC, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated a forensic audit of the financial records of the Commission.
But the group in a statement on Friday by its Programmes Coordinator, Mr. Bottom Isaac, noted with serious concern what appears to be a deliberate attempt to sweep the findings of the forensic audit under the carpet as the government has failed to make the said report available to the public even after a week of the Minister confirming the receipt of the report.
According to the statement, The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godswill Akpabio has confirmed that the long awaited forensic audit report of the NDDC has been submitted to his office team comprising of auditors but yet to be made to the public
The statement alleged that the commission has failed to meet the needs and aspirations of the people of the Niger Delta instead of promoting the region’s development agenda in line with its mandate, the NDDC has become a cesspool of corruption for which many of its past and present leaders have not only been complicit, but have been indicted (in both past and present probes and investigations).
It stressed that all these heavily weighted malfeasances are all in the open before citizens of Nigeria we, therefore, see no reasons why the outcome of the report should be locked in secrecy.
“With the forensic audit completed, it is the hope of Nigerians and Niger Delta people that probity will be restored to the commission and that it will be re-positioned for efficiency, pointing out that, as an organization committed to ensuring accountability and transparency in governance”.
“we are concerned about the bureaucratic procedure around the submission of the report which may further delay the report from being made public and its recommendations being implemented.”
The group called on the president to promptly implement the recommendations of the audit report and anyone found wanting be prosecuted with immediate effect.
“This will help build trust in the government and restore citizens’ confidence in the governance process. Doing this will dispel any trepidation of any attempt to cover-up the sins of some considered to be in high places or any plans to present a watered-down version of the report”, the statement added.
It also called on the government to interrogate the forensic report with the view to bringing about the needed sanity into the commission by implementing its recommendations to the full.
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