The
Senate Ad-Hoc committee investigating financial recklessness in the NDDC has
concluded its investigation and presented its report before the Senate.
The
report which was read by the committee chairman Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, stated
the NDDC spent 1.3 trillion Naira between 2015 and May 31st, 2019 concluding
that many of these expenses contravened the law and were extra-budgetary.
Sen.
Adetunmbi said the committee observed process errors and infractions, noting
that substantial payments, were made to staff in the form of unjustifiable
allowances.
The
investigation further revealed that the NDDC paid 4.9 billion Naira to staff
for numerous allowances including COVID-19 relief, tour duty allowances,
overseas travel, and international scholarships.
Curiously,
the payment for overseas travel and scholarship was during the lockdown and
cessation of flights abroad.
The
committee also observed that the ministry of Niger delta is culpable of
negligent supervision of the NDDC.
It
further observed that the performance of the Interim Management Committee IMC
is a major issue as the record of the IMC has not shown any evidence of
prudence and accordingly recommended that it should be dissolved.
The
committee also raised an alarm over the forensic audit called for by President
Buhari, noting that it is at a rudimentary level with the recruitment of the
auditors still underway even after eight months.
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