Auditor-General seeks recovery of N183bn Niger Delta funds

The Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura, on Wednesday recommended the recovery of about N183bn being funds meant for the development of Niger Delta but which was allegedly diverted for other purposes.

Ukura stated this when he submitted three special audit reports to the clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa.

The Auditor-General explained that the amount was discovered in the periodic checks carried out by his office on the activities and programmes of the Niger Delta Development Commission between 2008 and 2012.

He said N70.4bn was paid as mobilisation to various contractors who never reported to site while N90.4 was the extra-budgetary expenditure for heads and sub-heads without approval by the legal authorities.

He also said N10bn was tax deductions without evidence of remittance to the Federal Inland Revenue Service; N5.8bn was payment to contractors for projects not executed, stalled or abandoned, while N1.2bn was undeducted taxes from contractors.

Ukura added that N3.1bn was transfer made to unauthorised accounts; N1.7bn was outstanding staff advances which were never accounted for and that N785m out of N1.1bn meant for the supply of furniture to various schools in Delta State was diverted.

He explained that the funds for the furniture supply was certified paid whereas inspection carried out by the Auditor-General’s office revealed that no single chair was distributed during the period under review.

The Auditor-General noted that there would be the desired peace, progress and development required in the Niger Delta if all activities and programmes of the NDDC were well implemented.

Ukura, who also submitted two special audit reports on the environmental activities in the Lake Chad region, raised the alarm that the water was drying up and asked relevant government agencies to address it before the situation degenerates further.

“The key message of the National Audit Report of Nigeria is that Lake Chad is drying up very fast; from 250,000 square kilometres in 1960 to just 1,500 square kilometres at the moment. We must save Lake Chad from extinction.”

He said the submission of special audit reports is different from the submission of the annual report of the Auditor-General for the Federation at the end of every financial year which had been submitted up to 2013 while that of 2014 was in progress.

He said the insurgency in the North-East and the militancy in the Niger Delta would be curtailed effectively if necessary attention was given to the environmental challenges in Lake Chad and the Niger Delta.