The auditor general for the federation, Samuel Ukura, claimed on Wednesday, August 19, that at least N183 billion meant for the development of the Niger Delta was diverted by officials of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The scandalous allegation was made in a recent report, according to Premium Times. Ukura told those opposing the investigation outcome to defend their position in front of a special government committee.
Three special audit reports showed that the mentioned checks had been conducted for the activities between 2008 and 2012.
“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.”
Reacting to the announcement, the NDDC characterized the report as untrue and misleading.
Henry Ogiri, the executive director for finance and administration of the NDDC, was quoted as saying:
“I say without fear of contradiction that the Auditor-General’s report is premature. 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.”
The auditor general, however, insisted that the condemnation of the report was“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 NDDC 16 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.”
Meanwhile the new group managing director of the major oil company in the country, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ibe Kachikwu, said he wanted to implement the practice of full transparency in the organization. He therefore vowed to provide the presidency with financial transaction reports on a regular basis starting from this September.
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