Energy
FG approves N722.3m for eight NDDC forensic auditors
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the payment of N722.3 million to eight field forensic auditors engaged to audit 12,000 projects embarked upon by the Niger Delta Development Commission in various states.
Ernst and Young was named as the firm that would be in charge of programmes and activities at the headquarters of the commission in Port Harcourt and help set up modalities to avoid future fraud.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, disclosed these to State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.
The minister was joined at the post-FEC meeting press conference by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed; and the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu.
He said the auditors, to be paid directly from the Presidency, would examine 12,000 abandoned projects scattered across all the Niger Delta states.
“There was a provision of N1.25bn in the budget of 2019 for the forensic audit. What delayed it was the absence of budget, not the absence of the will,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the National Assembly is now on leave and the budget of NDDC for 2020 has not been passed.
“So, to enable us to move forward with the exercise and complete it on time, Mr President graciously directed and approved that the payment for the forensic exercise should be undertaken through the Presidency.
“So, the first amount that was approved for the lead forensic auditors was about N318m and then for this batch of eight field auditors, N722.3m.
“We expect to complete the field audit in the next one or two weeks to conclude forensic audit procurement by bringing in a further seven to eight of them because of the number of years, 19 years.”
The minister said the exercise was being conducted to address misappropriation, bribery, corruption, fraud or any other thing that could have militated against the success of the agency in the last 19 years.
