A fortnight ago, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Abubakar Momoh, declared missing, the report of the forensic audit into the books of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) from 2001 to 2019. Former President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the probe due to the massive evidence of abandoned projects in the region. For 16 months, Olumuyiwa Basiru and Co., an audit firm as the Lead Consultant, with 16 other forensic auditors carried out the exercise. The investigation covered the nine states of the Niger Delta geopolitical zone, which make the catchment area of the NDDC projects.
The lead forensic auditor, Alhaji Kabir Ahmed, while presenting a brief overview of the report to Buhari in 2021, had lamented that there was no visible justification for the resources invested in the Commission, put at about N6 trillion, compared with the level of development recorded over the same time. After an examination of 13,777 projects and a review of as many as 362 bank accounts of the NDDC, the auditors identified funding gaps, irregularities, mismanagement and due process violation, as some of the problems facing the Commission. The auditors added that personnel audit and review of the governance and organisational structure of NDDC were also carried out.
At the presentation of the report to Buhari, the government vowed to implement it, recover funds from failed contractors, and ensure reforms to forestall further and future abuse at the Commission. A former Minister of the Niger Delta, Umana Umana, told Nigerians that the White Paper on the report of the forensic audit would be published in 2022, before the end of Buhari’s second term. But that never happened.
The current Niger Delta Minister, Momoh, shocked Nigerians on August 6, 2024, when he announced on television that in his last 14 months as a minister, he had asked officials of his ministry about the report, but no one could locate it. He said: “We are committed to locating the report and ensuring it is presented to the government for action. Those found responsible will not escape justice. We will exhaust all avenues to find the report and hold the accountable parties responsible. The report will be made available to Nigerians as soon as it is recovered”.
It is quite curious that the important report should be missing. The former government instituted the investigation after an attempt by the 9th National Assembly to probe a humungous expenditure of N81.2 billion between January and June, 2020 by the NDDC was inconclusive. Rather, it generated memorable dramatic scenes, like the collapse of the then-acting Managing Director, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, and the now-famous phrase “honourable minister (Akpabio) off your mic.” The probe was conducted when Senate President Godswill Akpabio was the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs. If the House of Representatives that carried out the probe produced a report, it was never made public.
Since government is a continuum, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must put in place measures to fish out the forensic audit report. It must issue the White Paper, recover funds looted through phoney projects, and put in place remedial measures. Though the report was not made public, there were feelers that some powerful and politically exposed Nigerians had their hands soiled in the dirty lucre. Some stakeholders in the Niger Delta, who were upbeat about the significance of the forensic audit, had called on the government to bring to book all those who looted the NDDC. It will, therefore, be a waste of resources for the government to fail to act on the outcome of the forensic report. To Nigerians, that will be a thorough letdown, capable of discouraging the people from taking seriously any future probe instituted by this government.
The NDDC was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000, with the mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region. The objectives include promoting rapid and sustainable development in the region, ensuring economic prosperity, social stability, and ecological regeneration. A core mandate is to educate and train youths in the region to mitigate hostilities and militancy associated with oil extraction and exploitation. Despite all the resources that have been disbursed to the Niger Delta Development Commission, it is apparent that these vision, mission, and objectives have not been attained.
It is a criminal offence to hide government’s investigative reports. We call on this government to locate the forensic audit report and punish the civil servants who hid it. This way it would demonstrate to Nigerians that it is interested in entrenching accountability and transparency in the Commission’s operations. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should carry out further investigations, based on the outcome of the forensic audit, take steps to recover funds from contractors who did not execute projects, and prosecute those who are found to have criminally enriched themselves and frustrated the noble objectives of the NDDC. Unless those who stole from the NDDC are punished, Nigerians being appointed to manage similar Commissions would take a cue from the NDDC to loot financial allocations for the development of other geopolitical zones. This must not be allowed.
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