From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday received the Forensic Audit Report of the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) with a vow to prosecute those who mismanaged the sum of N6Trillion allocated to the commission.
President Buhari specifically querried the operation of 362 accounts by the Commission without proper reconciliation.
The president disclosed that between 2001 and 2019, the Federal Government has approved and released the total sum of N7 Trillion to the NDDC as income from statutory and non statutory sources.
Buhari who was represented at the presentation ceremony by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has directed that the forensic audit report be forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Justice for a legal review and relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government will be engaged in doing justice to the findings accordingly.
“The Federal Government is particularly concerned with 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. We have on record over 13,777 projects, the execution of which is substantially compromised.
The Federal Government is also concerned with the multitudes of Niger Delta Development Commission’s bank accounts amounting to 362 and lack of proper reconciliation of accounts.
“The Federal Government will in consequence apply the law to remedy the deficiencies outlined in the audit report as appropriate.
This will include but not limited to initiation of criminal investigations, prosecution, recovery of funds not properly utilized for the public purposes for which they were meant for review of the laws to reposition and restructure the NDDC for the efficiency of better service delivery amongst others. In all these instances of actions, legal due processes will strictly be complied with.
Meanwhile the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio who submitted the report to the AGF, noted that although the exercise had a checkered history, the President and all those who supported and ensured its success should be commended.
Senator Akpabio stressed that the exercise was not done to witch-hunt anyone but to ensure that the huge sums of funds committed to the area yearly were justified.
He however lamented that the region had remained backward since 1958 inspite of successive governments efforts through the creation of various interventionist programmes and projects.
According to him, the report of the audit committee showed that their are over 13,000 abandoned projects in the Niger Delta, adding that even before the submission of the report some contractors have returned to site on their own and completed about 77 road projects.
Lead Forensic Auditor, Alhaji Kabir Ahmed, in a brief overview of the report, said that the team recommended managerial as well as structural changes, chief of which was the downsizing of the NDDC’s board.
The report has called on the federal government to recover the sum
of $4 billion outstanding contribution from Oil companies.
He said to reduce cost the team recommended that members of the team should henceforth be appointed on part time basis.
The appointment of members of the board of the NDDC had been suspended until release of the audit report.
While disclosing that oil companies in the country are still in default of their contributions to the Commission, Ahmed said that the government should withdraw the license of any oil company which defaults for a period of three years.
The report also recommended the deduction of 15% ecological fund at source and to be paid to the commission because both the federal and state governments had failed to make payments to the commission.
In addition, the team recommended as a measure of effective revenue collections, that the Federal Inland Revenue Services should collect funds on behalf of NDDC from oil companies in the country.
Other recommendations include ” the Establishment Act of the Commission should be amended to accommodate the deduction of 50% Ecological Funds due to member state of the Niger Delta Region at source by the federal government and such should be remitted immediately to the commission.
Amendment should be made to enable the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) collect all revenue due to the Commission from Oil companies on behalf of the commission and remit all such collection using non-remittance of revenue by oil companies operating within the region.
All converted NDDC projects should be recovered from individuals and put to use for it’s intended purpose.
It recommend a review of the NDDC master plan to reflect current realities and thinking and should subsequently be reviewed every five years. Going forward all future projects of the commission should be based on the master plan.
Contractors and individuals involves in issues relating to over payment should provide substantive evidence to qualify funds received and refund excess payment to the commission.
All staff, active or retired who are involved in issues of contract splitting, conflict of interest, contract execution, overpayment of contracts, authorization of payments without achieved milestones and award of contracts without due process should be made to account for their actions.
President Buhari had in October 2019, directed that a Forensic Audit Exercise of projects and programme of the NDDC should be undertaken to cover the period of 19 years, from it’s formation date in year 2000 to the end of August 2019.