…as group petitions Buhari, demands probe of sacked administrator, contractors
Abel Oriri – Port Harcourt
The recent revelations of fraud amounting to over three hundred billion naira in the Niger Delta Development Commission has sparked reactions from Niger Deltans, the most recent being a letter of petition to President Muhammadu Buhari by a pro development and public accountability group in the region, Niger Delta Network (NDN) calling for the immediate probe of the recently sacked Sole Administrator of the coommission, Effiong Akwa, as well as all contracts and contractors awarded and hired during his reign.
Recall that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Umana Okon Umana had, during a recent interface with staff of the commission in Port Harcourt, disclosed contracts amounting to over N300bn were discovered to have been awarded without due process by the past sole administrator of NDDC.In the petition signed by the its Coordinator, Chief Kennedy Adams, Acting Secretary, Eric Igbinopogie Esq, and Director of Public Communications, Dr. John Douglas, the group reminded the said Akwa had betrayed the public trust upon which he was given the mandate to drive the commission and its affairs by committing what it described as “the worst and most devastating fraud in the history of the commission”.
“Mr. President, we have reasons to believe that it was on the basis of trust that the presidency in 2019 approved and allocated resources to back the forensic audit which purpose was to check myriad of fraudulent activities in the NDDC in the past years. It is however sad, disheartening and rudely shocking to discover that under the same NDDC regime which had such high level of public trust, is alleged to have committed the worst and most devastating fraud in the history of the commission”, the petition read partly
It also stressed that there should be no tolerance for such heinous crime which, according to the petition, has been responsible for the stalled development of the region over the years, adding that, there can be no justification for “the insidious impunity and high level corruption endemic in the Commission in spite of federal government’s efforts to sanity the system”.
“Mr. President, one would be puzzled by the antithesis of your administration being so popular in the news to have made genuine efforts backed by heavy funding towards the development of the Niger Delta region, yet, so infamous among Niger Deltans when and where it concerns the impacts of these efforts. The solution to this puzzle might be visible when one considers the development that over N300bn well utilised would have brought”, the petition also read.
The petition further prayed the president to direct the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to immediately publish list of contracts awarded by the Ministry and NDDC as well as order an immediate personnel audit in the commission.
“Mr. President SHOULD, without any reservation or delay, orders the EFCC and ICPC to thoroughly investigate the former Sole Administrator of NDDC, Mr. Effiong Akwa. ALL contracts issued within he tenure as the sole administrator SHOULD as a matter of urgency be investigated. ALL contractors and beneficiaries of prayer (2) should be invited for questioning.
“As a good governance and public accountability group, advocating the development of the region, we wish to demand the following prayers:
That Mr. President should without any reservation nor delay order the EFCC and ICPC to thoroughly investigate the former sole administrator of NDDC, Mr. Effiong Akwa.
That ALL contracts issued within he tenure as the sole administrator SHOULD as a matter of urgency be investigated.
That ALL contractors and beneficiaries of prayer (2) should be invited for questioning, the petition read further.The group commended President Buhari for “his genuine efforts at developing the Niger Delta region”, while praying God to continually give him the enablement to do more.
https://leaders.ng/2022/11/01/n300bn-fraud-controversy-in-nddc-unsettles-niger-deltans
