Nigerian lawmakers recommend new board for Niger Delta body in corruption probe

By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, July 23 (Reuters) - Nigeria's president should
appoint a new board to run a government agency overseeing
economic development in the oil-rich Niger Delta region that has
faced accusations of financial mismanagement, lawmakers said on
Thursday.
Nigerian lawmakers are investigating alleged corruption
around procurement at the Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC) over 20 years.
An audit of the body, which last year had a budget of 346
billion naira ($909 million), was ordered by President Muhammadu
Buhari in October after a number of state governors from the
Delta complained about how it was run.
The Niger Delta remains impoverished despite providing most
of the oil, the mainstay of the economy, produced in Africa's
biggest crude exporter. Locals have for decades complained of
poverty, with agitation at times spilling over into attacks on
energy facilities.
"The committee noted that it is difficult to find a
correlation between Niger Delta community development and cash
invested in the zone," the lawmakers in the Senate, parliament's
upper chamber, said in a report published on Thursday.
The acting managing director of NDDC, Daniel Pondei, told
lawmakers at a hearing earlier in week: "There is no money
missing in NDDC since I took over in February this year.
Everything we have done are in accordance with the laid-down
procedures." The NDDC has been run by an interim board since October
after the audit was ordered.
The committee "strongly recommends" that Buhari takes steps
to inaugurate a new board of directors. The absence of a
permanent board "created a major lacuna of oversight", the
report said.
A spokesman for the president declined to comment on the
recommendations, which also said a monitoring committee should
be set up to ensure there are checks and balances over the way
the NDDC is run.
It also said the office of the auditor general should
oversee a forensic audit of the body.
A NDDC spokesman did not immediately respond to phone calls
and a text message seeking comment.
($1 = 381.0000 naira)