There is tension at the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, as the agency’s top officials arrive Abuja to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday over the missing N183.7 billion and other alleged scams rocking the commission.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed the scheduled meeting to PREMIUM TIMES.
“It is true that top officials of the NDDC will be meeting with the President tomorrow (Wednesday),” Mr. Shehu said.
“Although I can’t confirm the exact schedule of the meeting, I can say that it will take place in the afternoon at the Presidential Villa.”
However, a source at the commission who pleaded not to be named because she is not authorised to speak on the issue, said the Managing Director, Dan Abia, would lead the delegation to meet Mr. Buhari.
Other top officials of the commission to accompany Mr. Abia to the meeting include the Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Henry Ogiri and the Executive Director, Projects, Tuoyo Omatsuli, among others.
The source said the atmosphere at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was tensed Tuesday following fears that President Buhari might wield the big stick on the leadership of the commission.
“The office was so tensed today because people are not sure what will happen after the President meets with the MD and some of our directors,” the source said.
“Since the news of huge financial scams broke out in the media, there has been an air of uncertainty in the office.
“Nobody is sure of what will happen tomorrow. Management has been fighting hard to stop the media from doing further damage to the already bad situation but it does not seem to work.”
She said the fate of some key officials of the commission hang on the balance and would be determined after the meeting with Mr. Buhari.
With spiraling debt totaling N1.5 trillion, the NDDC has been enmeshed in alleged multi-billion financial scams including the disappearance of a princely N187.3 billion from its accounts.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported on August 8 how two executive directors, Messrs Ogiri and Omatsuli, disbursed N3.8 billion to contractors, leaving the Mr. Abia in the dark.
It also reported on August 8 how, two weeks after the last board was inaugurated, the commission awarded a contract for intelligence gathering, management and mitigation in all the senatorial districts in the nine states within the region.
To circumvent the Public Procurement Act 2007, the contract was split into 30 lots and awarded to political gladiators and cronies of board members and top management staff.
A total of N2.7billion was doled out to 30 companies for the contracts, described as spurious by some insiders.
Again, last week, the Auditor General of the Federation, Samuel Ukara, indicted the commission for its inability to account for N183.7 billion which passed through it between 2008 and 2012.
Mr. Ukara urged the National Assembly to summon top officials of the commission account for the whereabouts of the funds
Reacting to the report which was laid before the Senate, Mr. Ogiri, accused Mr. Ukara of being hasty in making his report public even while the NDDC was still responding to the audit queries.
But the AGF has stood his grounds, maintaining that the NDDC refused to respond to repeated pleas by his office to respond to audit queries issued to it despite sustained reminders spanning over a year in each case.
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Home »
» Tension At NDDC As Top Officials Meet Buhari Over Missing N184billion - Politics -
Tension At NDDC As Top Officials Meet Buhari Over Missing N184billion - Politics -
By Unknown03:54
Related Posts:
… Read More
30 Women In Lagos Sentenced To 6 Weeks In Prison For Prostitution 30 women in Lagos were today Monday September 7th sentenced to six weeks imprisonment for pros-titution by an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court for pros-titution, NAN reports.Those sentenced are Funmi Olayemi, Damilola Ibrahim, Bless… Read More
Comedian I Go Dye Flies With Obasanjo (see Photo) - Celebrities Multi-talented comedian, Francis Agoda known as I Go Dye who was in Europe last week, left Vienna, Austria yesterday and was seen with former Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo as they landed Nigeria from London… Read More
Navy Uncovers Illegal Refineries In Niger-delta (photos, Video) - Politics Illegal refineries within the Niger delta region have been uncovered and destroyed by the Nigerian Navy.One of the illegal sites is in Minima Community in the Buguma axis of Rivers State in the south-south region.The Command… Read More
‘Wike Has Squandered Over N120bn In 100 Days’- Rivers APC - PoliticsGovernor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has been accused by the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), of allegedly squandering over N120 billion during his first 100 days in office.The APC, in a statement on Mond… Read More
0 comments:
Post a Comment