A White paper of the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has uncovered massive financial impropriety with upto 1,690 emergency contracts worth N681.6 billion awarded without proper approvals and due process stipulated in the Public Procurement Act 2007.
The white paper exclusively obtained by VeonewsNG showed how the NDDC plagued with massive corruption ran afoul of the Treasury Single Account policy by keeping 362 bank accounts with unreconciled balances totalling at least N1.7 billion based on a 2014 overdraft.
This subsequently prompted recommendations for the NDDC to reduce accounts to five, reconcile balances, and investigate officials involved in opening unauthorized accounts.
The audit, ordered by former President Muhammadu Buhari and conducted over 16 months by a team of 17 auditors led by Olumuyiwa Basiru & Co., also uncovered how N2.4 billion in contracts were split among 51 contractors to evade approval thresholds.
The White Paper committee headed by Special Adviser to the former President, Dr. Habiba Lawal, scrutinized the report which further uncovered how “eight contracts of identical amounts were awarded on the same date to supposedly different contractors. In another instance, 27 similar contracts were awarded to apparently connected contractors for the same sums without due process.”
Further scrutiny of the White Paper by VeonewsNG also showed how the leadership of the NDDC in 19 years awarded contracts to unregistered contractor companies.
According to the report, the management of the NDDC also encouraged “Inappropriate contract pricing and lack of market surveys” led to overbilling and loss of value for money.
This prompted the draft committee to recommend that “open competitive bidding be used to achieve better value.”
The Committee directed that “the ICPC should investigate the circumstances under which the relevant contracts were categorized as emergency in order to ascertain the basis for such classification as emergency procurement, or if the contracts were not executed, and any Official found culpable should be punished accordingly.”
Aside from the several corruption stank around the Commission, VeonewsNG discovered how the NDDC had deprived oil producing communities of over $4 billion outstanding fees as it failed to collect the 3% statutory obligations from oil companies.
It was also discovered that 50% of Ecological Funds mandated by law were not remitted to the Commission by state governments.
Although former President Buhari had claimed in 2022 to have commenced implementation of the recommendations of the report, the Federal Government has defied multiple calls to publish the findings of the report.
