CORRUPTION: Pressure Mounts On PMB To Act On NDDC Forensic Audit Report

Oru Leonard

President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to expeditiously take action
against the staff of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and
contractors found culpable in the brazen criminality, contract scams, and embezzlement of the Commission since its establishment in 2000.
The admonition is coming on the heels of the expose by The Minister of
Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, which says that the recently
submitted final forensic audit report of the NDDC had 12,128 abandoned
projects that could not be traced to any contractor.

President Buhari had in October 2019 ordered for forensic auditing of
the Commission after pressures from governors from the Niger Delta
region, civil society organizations, and Nigerians over the endemic
corruption in the agency.

Programme Coordinator at Social Development Integrated Center, Isaac
Botti led the call during an anti-corruption radio program, PUBLIC
CONSCIENCE on RADIO, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for
Community Development, PRIMORG, on Wednesday in Abuja.

Botti who lamented the culture of overlooking audit and corruption
reports in Nigeria said President Buhari must address the gaps in the
forensic audit report of the NDDC objectively and without bias, noting
that the “NDDC forensic audit will not achieve anything if there is no
political will to implement it”.
“With regards to the NDDC forensic audit report, President Buhari should
show the public he meant business, he should make the report available
to the public, he should ensure that proper and right actions are
followed and that will instill confidence in the public and show that he
is ready to fight corruption.
“If the President says he is fighting corruption, then let him fight it
without bias and objectively which include doing everything that will
help control the incidences of corruption and supporting every process
that curbs corruption,” Botti stressed.
He added that the two decades of mismanagement and embezzlement of funds meant to develop the region have been made possible due to corruption
and failure to institute governing board of the NDDC; which plays a significant role in overseeing the operation of the commission.

On his part, the Regional Editor of The News Guru Newspapers, Emmanuel
Ovuakporie expressed discontent with the audit report and the auditors,
while calling on President Buhari to create special courts that will
swiftly tackle corruption in Nigeria.
Ovuakporie said since the audit report on the president’s table is from
the inception of the Commission every person who headed the commission
in the past should be questioned, insisting that a special court to try
corruption cases will ensure faster results.

His words: “We need special courts to try corrupt politicians, if we
have such courts, these people (corrupt Nigerians) will change their
mindset. If you have a special court dedicated especially to try corrupt
officers within a short period there will be swift judgment and people
will know that there are courts that can take care of their issues
without wasting time.
“The forensic report covers from 2000 to 2020 which is exactly 20 years,
so it means virtually everybody that has managed the commission from the
beginning to date should be investigated. If Buhari wants to let us know
that he is fighting corruption he should set up special courts to try corrupt officers,” Ovuakporie stated.

He assured that The News Guru Newspapers will go the extra mile to
inform the public of what is actually happening in the NDDC despite the
difficulties associated with accessing information in government
agencies.

A Nigerian, identified as Joseph who called into the radio programme
also had these to say: “The youth of the Niger Delta region should  mobilize themselves, every youth should insist that this report be made known; Let us know who are doing these things, the best way to tackle the corruption is to know who are the enemies of the Niger Delta.”

Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program
used by PRIMORG to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption
and integrity issues in Nigeria.
The program is supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

(PRIMORG Media)