The
Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has said that
between 2007 and 2014, a period of seven years, the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC) got $1.98 billion and N594 billion remitted to it, but cannot
account for how N7.4 billion allocated for grassroots development projects was
spent.
Pledging
to work with the commission to enthrone transparency and accountability in its
operations, NEITI also asked the new board and management of the NDDC to carry
out an independent project implementation audit, in addition to committing its
operations to good corporate governance and the principles of the global
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
The
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr. Waziri Adio, in a presentation he made at a
retreat of NDDC in Port Harcourt, also suggested to the NDDC to carry out a
corruption risk assessment which would enable it develop a framework to
strengthen its operations.
A
statement from NEITI Monday in Abuja, stated that Adio was represented at the
retreat by its Director of Communications, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji.
He
said the NDDC and NEITI were set up with similar mandates targeted at
addressing the syndrome of resource curse, but that over the years, public perception
of NDDC was more of an agency with huge revenue resources but with little
impact on the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.
He
noted that a breakdown of the financial remittances to NDDC showed that it
received N594 billion from 2007 to 2011 while $559 million was paid to the
commission in 2012.
NEITI
said in 2013, the NDDC received $563 million while in 2014, the sum of $865
million was remitted to it.
It
added that from its Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement Audit Report
which covered 2007 to 2011, the sum of N7.4 billion allocated to member states
of the NDDC for grassroots development projects in the respective states could
not be accounted for while 22 of such projects valued at N1.19 billion were
duplicated.
The
statement said the Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr. Nsima Ekere, welcomed the
emerging partnership between NEITI and the NDDC and pledged to use the NEITI
reports to enthrone accountability and corporate governance in the agency.
Ekere
also gave the assurance that the NDDC under the new board and management would
embrace the principles of the EITI to reverse the resource curse syndrome in
the Niger Delta through efficient resource utilization, corporate governance
and project delivery.
Source:Thisday
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