By Chioma Iruke
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has assured that the final report of the Forensic Audit of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, as ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari, would be ready by the end of July, and would be brought forward for implementation.
Akpabio disclosed this in an interview with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari.
The minister also disclosed that the name of nominees for the reconstitution of the NNDC board will be forwarded to the National Assembly soonest.
It would be recalled that the Federal Executive Council, FEC, had in February 2020, approved the appointment of a lead consultant for the forensic audit of NDDC.
“We have fast-tracked the process of constituting the board, but we insist that the most important thing is not just the development of the Niger Delta region but how to reposition NDDC to ensure optimal performance as against the practice in the past.
“So, the forensic audit of NDDC is on course and it is progressing very well and I am happy with the progress made so far.
“And I am very certain that by end of July which is just a month and a few weeks away from that the final result will be given to the president for implementation.
“And in terms of the composition of the board of the NDDC, that of course, we have fast-tracked the process and the National Assembly will soon get the list,” Akpabio assured.
Akpabio expressed hope that the new board would implement the recommendations of the forensic audit to work and reposition the commission.
He however regretted that, in the past, the NDDC headquarters was disconnected from the national grid for about 15 years.
“And we have noticed the fact that even the headquarters building that was started over 20 years to 24 years ago, nobody was interested.
“I think they were pursuing projects that were probably beneficial to either the staff or the management and not necessarily things that benefited the region,” he added.
