The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has criticized what he described as the limited scope of the National Assembly’s inquest into the financial activities of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
According to the former governor, the probe should not be restricted to between February and July 2020 that is currently the mandate of the National Assembly but should be a comprehensive probe of the agency’s 19 years of existence.
Speaking when members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria visited him in Abuja on Thursday, the minister explained that the commission received over N15 trillion in the last 19 years, with nothing to show for the funds.
Akpabio noted that the discretionary probe would not address the problem of the commission, which he described as “a cesspit of corruption.”
He assured Niger Delta residents and the country that the outcome of the ongoing forensic audit would expose the magnitude of the rot in the agency.
He said, “Why can’t people ask questions? How come it is only now that the noise is louder? How come it is only now that even our parliament has found it necessary to conduct a selective probe of NDDC? Instead of beginning from the inception, year 2001, they are now doing five months probe out of almost 20 years of existence. Why?
“NDDC has been in existence since 1999; what is really happening now? How is it all petitions on earth are happening? When the wind blows, it blows along with the answer.”
The minister said he had earlier pointed out in a television interview in 2019 that the forensic audit of the NDDC would spark controversy and a campaign of calumny against him and the President, General Muhammadu Buhari.
He added, “Shortly after Mr President ordered the forensic audit of NDDC, I was on NTA and I pointed out that as soon as this forensic audit commences, that hell would be let loose.”
He claimed that the campaign against him and the NDDC Interim Management Committee was “so organised and well-funded that you hardly open a newspaper and you don’t see a screaming headline, and all they are talking now is corruption in five months; not corruption in 19 years and seven months.”
The interim management committee of the NDDC is alleged to have mismanaged N81.5 billion that accrued to the agency within the period under review. The minister accused national assembly members of being the biggest beneficiaries of NDDC contracts- a charge several national assembly members have since refuted.
