Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent pronouncement that a forensic audit would be carried out on the activities of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from 2001 till date, Festus Masajuwa, a stakeholder from Niger Delta and public relations practitioner, says the move is commendable, advising that the newly nominated board should be urgently inaugurated to allow them preside over the audit on grounds of neutrality.
Masajuwa recalls in a statement sent to the media that while receiving governors of the states that make up the Commission in Aso Rock, President Buhari had expressed disappointment at the Commission’s performance over the years, observing that what is presently on ground in the Niger Delta region does not justify the huge resources that have been made available to the interventionist agency over the years.
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The release quoted Buhari as saying, “I try to follow the Act setting up these institutions, especially the NDDC. With the amount of money that the Federal Government has religiously allocated to the NDDC, we will like to see the results on the ground; those that are responsible for that have to explain certain issues.”
Masajuwa applauds the President for the investigation into the activities of the Commission and opined that it was much expected, because the budgetary expenditures for projects are totally at variance with real projects on ground. He, alongside other stakeholders from the region, implored President Buhari to urgently forward the newly nominated board of the NDDC to the Senate for clearance and subsequent inauguration, saying that this will give credence to the audit and semblance of honesty.
“We are therefore, calling on the President to disregard dissenting voices and baseless arguments being canvassed by some persons from the region and inaugurate the new board, to help supervise the audit,” he says.
He points out that the new board comprised people with proven track records, who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields of endeavour.
“With the wealth of experience at their disposal, their contributions will in no small way take the Commission to greater heights and endear the government to the mass population of the Niger Delta, which will evidently lead to greater transformation,” he says.
He emphasises that there is the need to really find out why the region has remained under-developed despite huge allocations over the years, adding that “There is the need for the in-coming board to carry out the investigation since it has not yet been tainted in any way by the activities in the place. This, I believe will help them to unravel what has happened spanning from 2001 to date.”
