CSOs: N15bn earmarked for 115 NDDC projects was diverted in 10 years

A coalition of civil society organisations known as Civil Society on Audit in Nigeria (CSCAN) says N15 billion earmarked for 115 projects awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been diverted.

The projects were said to have been awarded by the commission to various contractors between 2008 and 2018.

At a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, the coalition presented a 293-page report on its findings.

Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Olusegun Elemo, executive director of Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), said within six months, they were able to monitor 115 out 176 contracts highlighted in the auditor-general’s report.

“Within the last six months (March-August 2021), our coalition monitored 115 priority projects out of 176 contracts highlighted in our review and analysis of compliance audit reports of the auditor-general for the federation on NDDC,” Elemo said.

“Fiscal performance of the 115 projects shows that contracts awarded amounted to N98.5 billion, payments to contractors totalled N61.8 billion while the sum of 15.3 billion is yet to be accounted for.

“Six of these projects are on education, one related to health, four on water, 74 on road infrastructure while 29 of the projects fall within other categories.

“However, our independent findings on these 115 projects revealed that 46 of the projects had been executed, 12 of them executed with irregularities, two were partially executed, four projects were executed by other agencies, three projects not executed at all, 19 of the projects were poorly implemented, 11 are still abandoned while 18 of the projects had no trackable location.”

Also speaking, Gabriel Okeowo, principal lead of BudgiT Foundation, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to publicise findings of the forensic audit he ordered into the finances of the NDDC.

“With the forensic audit ordered by President Buhari now concluded and summary report indicating over 13,700 poorly executed and unverified projects by NDDC despite N6 trillion it received from 2001 to 2019, it will be in the interest of the Niger Delta people for the federal government to make the full report of the exercise public,” Okeowo said.

He said the president should religiously implement the recommendations of the report.

On her part, Zainab Haruna, programme director of Step Up Nigeria, said the national assembly should use the forensic report and their documents to ensure that those responsible for the projects are made to account for them.

In 2019, Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the NDDC’s operations from 2001 to 2019.

The development came amid allegations of fund mismanagement levelled against Kemebradikumo Pondei, the then-acting managing director of the commission, which led to his sack.