…Says almost N3 trillion expended with no result
The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs is upbeat about the dissolution of the erstwhile Pius Odubu-led board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Minister of State for the ministry, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, who accused some people he did not name of having rushed to constitute the board at a time the Federal Government was putting machinery in place to probe its activities since inception, imputed a selfish motive into their actions. Speaking when he paid a courtesy visit to the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki at Government House, Benin City on Friday, Alasoadura said the dissolution of the board which members had already been screened and confirmed by the senate, was in order as the move prevented the perpetuation of corruption in the interventionist agency.
The minister said the new leadership of the ministry would not sit and watch corruption thrive in the Commission which was why it worked meticulously to put the right people in the right places. Underscoring the import of the ongoing forensic audit in the agency and the depth of rot, Alasoadura said “the first thing is the forensic audit. We have to know what was wrong in the past and what we can do to ameliorate it. We know a lot of corrupt practices were perpetuated in NDDC in the past, as almost N3 trillion was expended with nothing to show for it. We have about 12,000 abandoned NDDC projects and these are projects that are not really worth doing at all.”
