Management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has denied allegations that N183.7 billion of NDDC funds could not be accounted for between 2008 and 2012.
The Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Samuel Ukura, was said to have claimed in a special audit report recently submitted to the National Assembly that the said amount was missing.
However, the NDDC Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Dr Henry Ogiri, in a statement made available, on Sunday, described the allegation as “premature and misleading.”
Ogiri, in the statement signed by the NDDC Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr Toye Abosede, also said the report was not true.
Speaking while inspecting three projects in Abua-Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State, he said: “I find the report very misleading and untrue.
“It tended to portray the current management as being responsible for the missing money, when in fact, the period covered by the report is 2008 till 2012.
“I will say without fear of contradiction that the Auditor-General’s report is premature. I say this because we are already putting together the responses to the queries which were directed to a period we were not in the commission.
“I completely disagree with the Auditor-General on this issue. Some of the claims he made in his report are things that do not hold water as at today.
“However, we are at an advanced stage of writing our own report. But from our preliminary findings, I do not believe that there is any money missing.
“The current management is quite capable of giving a proper account of the commission’s finances based on available records. It does not matter that we were not there for the period under review.”
Ogiri also picked holes in the claims made by the Auditor-General, describing some of them as things that had been passed on to suspense account at the time of the audit.
The NDDC Finance Director said these accounts had since been reconciled, noting that issues of wrong classification were regarded as monies that were missing.
He also disclosed that the interventionist agency had since introduced some changes meant to checkmate incompetent contractors.
“We no longer pay mobilisation for contract jobs. Our contractors are now expected to demonstrate their competence and capability before payments are made.
“In addition, we now insist on proper scoping for our jobs, as well as holding pre-award meetings to tie all loose ends,” he said.
Meanwhile, NDDC has restated its resolve to complete all its ongoing projects spread across the Niger Delta region.
Dr Ogiri made the commitment while inspecting three projects in Abua-Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State.
He said the current management of the commission had recorded notable achievements because of its judicious application of financial resources.
Ogiri, in company of the Executive Director, Projects, Mr Tuoyo Omatsuli, inspected the 23.5-kilometre Otuasega-Obedum-Emelego Road project, linking Bayelsa and Rivers states; e-library and a model primary school in Abua.
He said the commission would remain focused on its mandate to quicken the pace of development in the Niger Delta, in spite of allegations of financial impropriety.
He commended the NDDC Managing Director, Sir Bassey Dan-Abia, for driving the reforms in the commission and especially for his commitment to seeing to the completion of the regional road.
“The people of the nine communities the road is expected to traverse are predominantly farmers, who find it extremely difficult conveying their farm produce like plantain, banana and cassava, to urban areas,” he said.
