Niger Delta Renaissance Coalition (NDRC) has joined the ranks of Nigerians drumming support for the National Assembly to probe alleged N40 billion illegal expenditure by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
National Coordinator of Niger Delta Renaissance Coalition (NDRC), Alalibo Demiebi George, reminded the Citizens Quest for Truth Initiative (CQTI) led by Obia Ndukwe that the National Assembly’s timely intervention in the probe was not only necessitated by the avalanche of alleged infractions by the IMC, but more importantly by the powers conferred on it by the constitution.
The Citizens Quest for Truth Initiative had described the probe as an “affront to the ongoing forensic audit of the Commissio and an affront to the directives of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, who instituted the forensic audit.”
The NDRC argued that the National Assembly had a responsibility to investigate the books of the NDDC given the allegation that the IMC misappropriated about N40 billion.
They reminded CQTI and those opposed to the probe of concerns raised by Senator George Sekibo, whose motion: “Urgent need to investigate alleged financial recklessness in the NDDC” led to the Senate probe.
NDRC said critics of the National Assembly should note that President Buhari on October 17, 2019, ordered that a forensic audit be carried out in NDDC from 2000 to 2019. The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, who is also supervisor over NDDC, told Nigerians that the IMC will complete the forensic audit in maximum of six months. More than six months after, there is no visible evidence that the forensic audit had started, not to talk of submitting the audit report to the President.
George also drew the attention to the statement of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, while inaugurating the seven-man ad hoc Committee on alleged financial recklessness of the NDDC IMC that “the probe into the finances of the NDDC by the Senate is to complement the forensic audit ordered by the Federal Government,” re-affirming that “we are in total support of the president’s directive for the forensic audit of the finances of the NDDC, and this is, in some way, complementary to that directive.”
