The Civil Society Coalition on Audit in Nigeria (CSCAN) has raised the alarm and demanded urgent investigation into how N90.9 billion contract sums meant for 176 development projects under the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), saying the money have remained unaccounted for.
The coalition, which includes Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), BudglT Foundation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Dataphyte, Step Up Nigeria, Accountability Lab, Centre for Health, Equity and Justice (CEHEJ), Basic Rights Watch, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and media executives in Nigeria revealed most of the projects were either completely abandoned or poorly executed.
Speaking on behalf of the Coalition, the Executive Director at Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), Mr. Olusegun Elemo, said review and analysis of the data as well as physical assessment of project sites revealed how “wasteful and insensitive” the NDDC had been in managing resources belonging to citizens of the Niger Delta region.
He stressed that the development indicated that those who were entrusted with the mandate of the NDDC to implement between 2008 and 2018 had intentionally deprived the Niger Delta people of much-deserved development of their region.
“We visited most of the project sites, we have pictorial evidence and we have identified the companies involved and details of the beneficiaries and owners of the contracting firms.
“We urge the National Assembly Public Accounts Committees, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to take a professional, detailed look at the evidence and recover the funds,” he said.
Another member of the coalition, BudgIT’s Deputy Manager, Tolutope Agunloye, who spoke at the press briefing stated that despite the over N500 billion was earmarked as statutory allocation to NDDC 2008 and 2018, the current state of some communities is not representative of this allocation.
According to him: “Many communities do not have potable water due to water pollution. Likewise, there is no effective healthcare system nor a suitable environment to advance quality education for children in that region.
“To execute its projects and programs, NDDC receives annual statutory allocations from the country’s federal government and an annual levy of 3% of the total annual budget of oil companies in the country. It also receives grants and other forms of support from International Development Agencies.
“However, despite the expenditure of approximately $40 billion on capital projects by NDDC since its inception, the Commission has failed to realize its 15-year master plan for the rapid development of the region.”
On his part, Country Director, Accountability Lab, Friday Odeh, argued that only modern audit law could help Nigeria to prevent corruption in the magnitude seen in the NDDC.
He wondered what happened to the forensic audit directed by President Muhammadu Buhari since October 2019 and why it was taking too long, adding that with all the evidence in the report from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, there was no need for a forensic audit of the commission.
