Buhari orders forensic audit of NDDC

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a forensic audit of the operations of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from 2001 to 2019, following persistent criticisms of the operations of the organisation.

President Buhari gave the order yesterday at the State House, Abuja, when he received governors of the states that make up the commission, led by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State.

The president said what is presently on the ground in the South-south region did not justify the huge resources that had been made available to the organisation.

“I try to follow the Act setting up these institutions, especially the NDDC. With the amount of money that the Federal Government has religiously allocated to the NDDC, we will like to see the results on the ground; those that are responsible for that have to explain certain issues.

“The projects said to have been done must be verifiable. You just cannot say you spent so much billions and when the place is visited, one cannot see the structures that have been done. The consultants must also prove that they are competent,” he also said in a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina.

Buhari, who said developing the Niger Delta area required enormous resources compared to other parts of the country with firmer lands, however stated that he would wait for the report of the audit before deciding on the next line of action regarding the organisation.

“I am acutely aware, with my experience, that projects in your area are very expensive; that is why if any job is given, we must make sure that the company is competent and has the capacity to do it well with experienced consultants,” the president added. Earlier, Governor Dickson had voiced the disappointment of other governors with the operations of the NDDC, which they said was characterised by poor choice of projects, shoddy handling, uncompleted jobs and lack of the required support for the efforts of the states and local government administration in the region covered by the organisation.

He, therefore, called for the repositioning of the NDDC in order to achieve the objectives for which it was set up.