The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on
Thursday, revealed that there are over 13,000 abandoned projects within
the coastal region.
Senator Akpabio disclosed this in Abuja when
he submitted the Forensic Audit Report on the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC) to President Muhammadu Buhari through the Attorney
General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar
Malami, SAN.
“The report of the audit committee showed that there
are over 13,000 abandoned projects in the Niger Delta and even before
the submission of the report some contractors have returned to site on
their own and completed about 77 road projects.
“Although the
exercise had a checkered history, I thank Mr President and all those who
supported and ensured its success,” the minister stated.
He
added that the exercise was not done to witch-hunt anyone, but to ensure
that the huge sums of funds allocated for developing the region are put
to good use.
According to Akpabio, the Niger Delta region has
remained backward since 1958 in spite of efforts by successive
governments through the creation of various interventionist programmes
and projects, a situation he says is changing.
Meanwhile,
President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed that the Federal Government will
ensure it recovers over N6 trillion allegedly misappropriated in the
running of the NDDC between 2001 and 2019.
Buhari who spoke
shortly after he received the Forensic Audit Report from Akpabio,
claimed that there had been evidence of substantial compromise in the
execution of at least 13,777 and the existence of “multitude of NDDC’s
bank accounts amounting to 362” which lacked proper reconciliation of
accounts.
Consequently, the President directed that the report of
the forensic audit on the NDDC be forwarded to the Federal Ministry of
Justice for necessary action.
Malami, after receiving the report, assured that it would be critically analysed for necessary action and implementation.
In
October 2019, Buhari ordered a holistic forensic audit on the
activities of the NDDC from when it was established till August 2019, in
response to the yearnings of the people to make the Commission more
effective and result oriented.
The President said there was
nothing tangible on the ground in the region to show for the huge funds
committed over the years through the Commission.
He noted that
his administration was concerned about the colossal loss occasioned by
uncompleted and unverified development projects in the region, and how
the citizens have for long been deprived of the dividends of democracy.
