The Transparency and Accountability Advancement Group has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to look into a petition by traditional monarch in Ondo State alleging questionable payment by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for contracts in his community.
The group, in a statement by Damian Nwikinaka, national coordinator, claimed the Olu of Igbokoda, disputed the contracts for desilting and re-channelling of river projects in Igbokoda for which the NDDC allegedly processed payments.
The group said the monarch alleged that no such contracts were executed in his community. It said from the traditional ruler’s petition, it was worrisome that officials of an agency of government will disobey public procurement rules and financial regulations.
It said there were serious infractions at the NDDC, including the one discovered by the Senate Adhoc Committee which probed the expenditure of over N80 billion in the space of nine months.
The group said it was sad that two months after the Senate indicted the NDDC Interim Management Committee (IMC), the president was acting like it was comfortable with IMC.
“Two months after they were adopted, none of the resolutions of the Senate which were based on the committee’s report, including the demand that the IMC be disbanded and its officials refund N4.923 billion, have been implemented despite an earlier statement by the president to consider the report, making Nigeria and Nigerians a laughing stock in the international community,” it said.
The group asked President Buhari to “be wary of his legacy because if he continues to fail to act on the Senate report and other reports of corruption …it will be said of him that this was the president who made anti-corruption speeches but condoned corruption by his appointed officials.
“It is not a flattering epitaph for an administration that professes zero tolerance for corrupt practices. We demand that the president acts on the corruption by the IMC at the NDDC without further delay.”