Buhari orders probe of NDDC, says he doesn't know where all the money has gone

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered for a probe of the finances of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) beginning from 2001 to the present day, because he doesn’t think projects on the ground in the region are commensurate with how much has been disbursed.

The NDDC was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on June 5, 2000.

Its major assignment included developing an oil rich Niger Delta region and addressing the yearnings and agitations of the aborigines who have felt short changed by the Nigerian state through the years.

Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo established the NDDC (NAN) ece-auto-gen

In 2008, late President Umaru Yar’adua followed up the establishment of the NDDC with the creation of a Niger Delta ministry, but swathes of the region remain undeveloped, infrastructure is sparse and the people appear to have become poorer for it all.

'We'd like to see results'

“I have ordered a forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). With the amount of money the federal government has allocated to the NDDC, we‘d like to see the results on the ground; those that are responsible for that have to explain certain issues,” President Buhari said in a tweet.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Chairman of his anti-corruption advisory council, Prof. Itse Sagay [Twitter/@BashirAhmaad] Pulse Nigeria

He added that “the projects that are said to have been done must be verifiable. One cannot just say billions have been spent and when the sites are visited, there is nothing to be seen as proof of work done. The forensic audit will cover the NDDC’s operations from 2001 to 2019.”

On August 27, 2019, President Buhari approved a new 16-man board of the NDDC, with Dr. Pius Odubu from Edo State as Chairman.

Odubu succeeds former senator from Cross River State, Victor Ndoma Egba, who oversaw affairs of the NDDC from 2016 to 2019.