Senate Orders NDDC Interim Committee to Refund N4.9bn

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Senate ad-hoc committee probing matters of alleged financial recklessness in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has asked the Interim Management Committee (IMC) to refund the sum of N4.9 billion to the accounts of the commission.

During the course of the probe, the interim management had spent the money as an Extra Budgetary Expenditure including excesses like the COVID-19 relief fund, Lassa fever kit, scholarship grants, overseas travels, historically contracts and obligations and other expenses which were not captured in the NDDC’S budget.

These are part of the recommendations read out by the chairman of the committee, Mr Olubunmi Adetumbi, at the plenary session Thursday.

The Directive to refund the money is contained in the committee’s report submitted to the upper chamber which indicated frivolous spending and financial recklessness by the IMC.

Mr Adetumbi said the NDDC claimed to spend billions on medicals between October 2019 and May 2020. He also said the commission spent billions of naira on “overseas travel allowance” at a time when countries were on lockdown and international flights were not operating.

The report also recommended the dissolution of the committee and called for the reconstitution of a new management board by President Muhammadu Buhari.

It further recommended that oversight of the forensic audit should be transferred to the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation to ensure transparency. It urged the federal government to appoint a renowned auditor to supervise this forensic audit.

Lawmakers have also appealed for the quick adoption of these recommendations to alleviate the sufferings of people in the Niger Delta region, which the commission was set up to provide succour for.

The NDDC had been in the spotlight recently after the acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr Kemebradikumo Pondei, admitted that the commission spent N1.3 billion for staff as COVID-19 relief funds.

He made this statement at the investigative hearing on the N40 billion corruption allegation against the commission.

The Senate had on May 5 set up a seven-man ad-hoc committee to investigate the financial recklessness of the IMC.

Matters then took a dramatic turn earlier this week when Mr Pondei, who staged a walkout on the committee last week, slumped during the probe by the House of Representatives.