Corruption: Pressure Mounts On Buhari To Act On NDDC Forensic Audit Report

President Muhammadu Buhari has been challenged to take expeditious action against the staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and contractors found culpable in the brazen criminality, contract scams, and embezzlement of the Commission since its establishment in 2000.

This followed the expose upon the submission of the report of the Forensic audit on the Commission by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, which stated that 12,128 projects were abandoned and could not be traced to any contractor.

President Buhari had in October 2019 ordered for forensic auditing of the NDDC after pressures from governors from the Niger Delta region, civil society organizations, and Nigerians over the endemic corruption in the agency.

Programme Coordinator at Social Development Integrated Center, Isaac Botti led the call on President Buhari during an anti-corruption radio program, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE on RADIO, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG.

Botti, who lamented the culture of overlooking audit and corruption reports in Nigeria, said President Buhari must address the gaps in the forensic audit report of the NDDC objectively without bias, stressing that the NDDC forensic audit will not achieve anything if there is no political will to implement it.

According to Botti; “President Buhari should show the public he meant business, he should make the report available to the public, he should ensure that proper and right actions are followed and that will instill confidence in the public and show that he is ready to fight corruption.

“If the President says he is fighting corruption, then let him fight it without bias and objectively which include doing everything that will help control the incidences of corruption and supporting every process that curbs corruption,” he said.

Botti further said that the two decades of mismanagement and embezzlement of funds meant to develop the region have been made possible due to corruption and failure to institute governing board of the NDDC; which plays a significant role in overseeing the operation of the commission.

On his part, the Regional Editor of The News Guru Newspapers, Emmanuel Ovuakporie, expressed discontent with the audit report and the auditors and called on President Buhari to create special courts that will swiftly tackle corruption in Nigeria.

Ovuakporie said that since the audit report on the president’s table is from the inception of the Commission, every person who headed the commission in the past should be questioned, insisting that a special court to try corruption cases will ensure faster results.

In his words; “We need special courts to try corrupt politicians. If we have such courts, corrupt Nigerians will change their mindset. If you have a special court dedicated especially to try corrupt officers within a short period, there will be swift judgment and people will know that there are courts that can take care of their issues without wasting time.

“The forensic report covers from 2000 to 2020 which is exactly 20 years, so it means virtually everybody that has managed the commission from the beginning to date should be investigated. If Buhari wants to let us know that he is fighting corruption he should set up special courts to try corrupt officers,” Ovuakporie said.

A Nigerian, identified as Joseph, who called into the radio programme said; “The youth of the Niger Delta region should mobilize themselves, every youth should insist that this report be made known; Let us know who are doing these things, the best way to tackle the corruption is to know who are the enemies of the Niger Delta”.