Skip to main content

NDDC diverted N183bn Niger Delta development money, Auditor General insists

NDDC logo

At least N183 billion that was meant for the development of Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta, was diverted by those put in charge of the government development commission for the area, the Auditor General of the Federation, Samuel Ukura said Wednesday.
Mr. Ukura insisted on the veracity of his special audit report accusing the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, of diverting the money.
The Auditor General said his office stood by the report and directed those not satisfied to be prepared to defend their position before a special committee of the National Assembly.
“The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation stands by the Special Periodic Checks on the NDDC and its contents. Any person or corporate organization not satisfied has the opportunity to defend itself before the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of the National Assembly,” said a statement by a spokesperson for the office, O.A.Ogunmosunle.
The auditor general had earlier made his findings about the money known to the National Assembly, as constitutionally required.
Following the reports, which urged the lawmakers to take immediate steps to recover the missing money, the NDDC took to the media to discredit the report, dismissing it as “very misleading and untrue”.
The Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Commission, Henry Ogiri, who described the report as “premature and misinforming”, said the report tended to accuse the current NDDC management of being responsible for the alleged missing money.
“I say without fear of contradiction that the Auditor-General’s report is premature,” Mr. Ogiri said. “I say this because we are already putting together the responses to the queries which were directed to a period we were not in the Commission.”
“I completely disagree with the Auditor-General on this issue. Some of the claims he made in his report are things that do not hold water as at today. I do not believe that there is any money missing.”
However, the Office of the Auditor-General said it took serious exception to attempts by the NDDC to not only deny the allegations, but also casting aspersions on the integrity of the Special Periodic audit submitted to the National Assembly.
In a strongly worded statement in Abuja, the OAuGF said the reaction was compelled by the negative sentiments occasioned by the NDDC’s condemnation of the Special report “calculated to demean the efficacy of the Constitutional mandate carried out by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.”
“It is noteworthy to state that it took NDDC16 months to grant the Office permission to commence the periodic checks beginning from 9th December, 2011 to 6th May, 2013,” the statement said.
“Similarly, it took another 16 months and several reminders to the NDDC with effect from the 24th of April, 2014 to 12th August, 2015 before the final report was submitted to the National Assembly.
“It may interest the reading public to know that at the time of this Press Release (Wednesday), the NDDC is yet to respond to the Special Periodic Checks.”
Reminding the public of the constitutional mandate of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation to submit its reports to the National Assembly periodically, Mrs.Ogunmosunle said in doing so, due process is usually followed.
In the three special audit reports submitted to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, Mr. Ukura had noted that the N183.7 billion was discovered to be missing during the periodic checks carried out by his office on the activities and programmes of the Commission between 2008 and 2012.
While about N70.4 billion was paid as mobilization to various contractors that never showed up at to site to do the job, he said another N90.4 billion was discovered to be extra-budgetary expenditure “for Head and Sub-heads without approval by the legal authorities.”
Equally, the sum of N10 billion was recorded in the books as tax deductions without evidence of remittance to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), while about N5.8 billion was said to have been paid to contractors for projects not executed, stalled or abandoned, in addition to N1.2 billion as taxes not deducted from contractors.
Again, the report said about N3.1 billion consisted of transfers to some unauthorized accounts, while N1.7 billion was outstanding staff advances never accounted for.
Also, there was no evidence that about N785million out of N1.1 billion budgeted for the supply of furniture to various schools in Delta State was spent on the project, despite being certified as paid.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Leaked Memo: Buhari Summons Kyari, Oyo-Ita After FEC Clash

by Punch Newspaper Nov 02, 2017 President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday summoned his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, over their clash at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The fierce crossfire between Kyari and Oyo-Ita, which occurred shortly before the Federal Executive Council meeting, was believed to have been caused by the leaked memo, which Oyo-Ita sent to Kyari on the controversial reinstatement and posting of the embattled former chairman of the Pension Reforms Commission, Abdulrasheed Maina. A source at the meeting said Kyari accused Oyo-Ita of leaking the memo, which she wrote to the CoS on the reinstatement of Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina into the Civil Service. In the memo, which was exclusively published by The PUNCH on Tuesday, Oyo-Ita said that she warned the President against asking Maina to return to the civil service, saying doing so could affect ...

Again, Presidency replies Amnesty International over report on killings

President Muhammadu Buhari The Presidency has accused Amnesty International of drawing “wrong conclusions” in its latest report highlighting the failure of the Nigerian government to check rampant killings in the last three years. The Nigerian Army had earlier dismissed the report, demanding the withdrawal of the group from the country, while the Presidency in its initial response “expressed concerns” about the group’s report. But in a more measured tone Thursday, the Presidency, through spokesperson Garba Shehu, commended Amnesty International for some of its conclusions, but said its evidence gathering was flawed. Read the full statement below: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT, DRAWING THE WRONG CONCLUSIONS – PRESIDENCY The first thing to say about Amnesty International’s Report: Setting the Record Straight is to thank the organisation for confirming a fact stated time and again by President Muhammadu Buhari that the conflict between herders and farmers i...

2Baba’s publicist, activists urge Nigerian youth on violence-free election

February 14, 2018 Organised campaign by the Initiative for Africa Youth Advancement Advocacy and Empowerment, IAYAAE, themed "Elections without Bloodbath". A publicist to popular Nigerian pop artiste, Innocent Idibia (2Baba), Efe Omoregbe, on Tuesday called on Nigerian youth to act rather than complain about the state of the nation. Mr. Omoregbe spoke at a programme organised by the Initiative for Africa Youth Advancement Advocacy and Empowerment, IAYAAE, themed “Elections without Bloodbath”. The programme, which held at the premises of the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Secretariat, Lagos, was put together to sensitise the youth on the dangers of electoral violence. Mr. Omoregbe in his intervention called to the youth to deploy affirmative action and apply knowledge gathered synthetic programme during electioneering. He told the crowd to rise and act by taking responsibilities without trading blames, saying the Nigeria of today is the nat...