Abia State Anti-Corruption Network (ASACN) has written President Mohammadu Buhari to order publication of a forensic audit report on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to enable correction of its past mistakes.
ASACN, a network of Civil Society Organizations (CSO) in Abia State released copies of the letter to journalists during a media briefing held at the NUJ Secretariat in Aba, Abia on Saturday.
The group said that it is concerned that the forensic audit report which covered a period of 18 years (2001-2019) revealed how 13,777 awarded contracts were abandoned, a period during which the NDDC received N6 trillion.
News Echo reports that the group was led by Nelson Nwafor of Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD), Henry Nwaigwe of Ndoki Youth Federation, Chuka Okoye of the Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and Wholesome Society (CEHRAWS) and Nnamdi Elekwachi of the Society for Economic Rights and Social Justice (SERSJ).
The group said the government needed to act on the report released recently by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and presented to the Attorney-General of the Federation through Godswill Akpabio, the minister in charge.
ASACN said that with the huge sum NDDC received, the commission operated 362 bank accounts yet it did not deliver the dividends it was expected to deliver to the oil-bearing areas.
They said, “We demand that in line with the mantra of transparency and integrity which this administration upholds, the President should direct that the details of the said contracts leading to 13, 000 abandoned be published. “The details of the contractors who were awarded the contracts should be made available to the public. The names and positions of all those who were involved in the award of the contracts should be published”.
“That the President direct the EFCC and ICPC to begin of all those culpable in the mismanagement of the N6 trillion that was accrued to the Commission between 2000 and 2019. “That the EFCC and ICPC begin the process of arrest, investigation of all contractors that have been fingered in the said abandoned projects.
“We pray that the Presidency direct the publishing of the details of the 362 bank accounts and transactions carried out.”
The group called on President Buhari to back the resolution of the Attorney-General to prosecute erring parties to the failed contracts with concrete actions. ASACN also urged the President not to treat any erring party with leniency but to prosecute any person found guilty in the NDDC contract scams.
