From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has said President Muhammadu Buhari will receive the final report of the forensic audit of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by the end of July.
This is even as he said names of nominees for the reconstitution of the NNDC board would soon be forwarded to the National Assembly.
Akpabio, made the disclosure while fielding questions from State House Correspondents, yesterday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari.
The minister said the final report would be submitted to the president for implementation.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had, in February 2020, approved the appointment of a lead consultant for the forensic audit of NDDC.
Akpabio said: “We have fast-tracked the process of constituting the board, but we insist 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.
“The NDDC forensic audit is on course and it is progressing very well and I am happy with the progress made so far.
“I am very certain that by end of July which is just a month and a few weeks away from now, the final result will be given to the president for implementation.
“In terms of the composition of the NDDC board, we have fast-tracked the process and the National Assembly will soon get the list.
“But that is not as important as the forensic audit which we have finally given a July deadline.”
He said he was hopeful the new board would use the recommendations of forensic audit to work and reposition the commission.
The minister regretted that, in the past, the headquarters of the commission was not connected to the national grid for 10 years to 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,” he said.
“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 said.
Akpabio said the East-West Road was another major area of concentration which the NDDC itself should have taken interest in.
He said he worked on federal roads when he was the governor of Akwa Ibom State.
“And to the glory of God, the president has refunded the money that most of the states used in intervening in federal roads which means it was a good gesture and the president has reciprocated it by the fact that the monies were refunded to those states.
“So, I think, even NDDC should have intervened in East-West Road to ensure its completion because of the economic importance of the road. Just three days ago, we had a mishap where one of the bridges had a problem; the approach to the bridge, it caused so much traffic jam in Port Harcourt for hours and we had to move in. To the glory of God, we have repaired the damaged section of the road and traffic is flowing and we are working very hard to make sure we complete that road next year for the benefit of the Nigerians and not just Niger Delta alone,” he said.
Akpabio warned that Nigeria cannot afford to have a crisis in South South of the same magnitude of the South East and other crisis-ridden regions of the country because of its importance to the economic survival of the nation.