Last Wednesday’s approval of the sum of additional N700 million by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in further support for the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), among other things, may be an indication that the Federal Government is serious about the matter, against what many Nigerians may have thought was a scam.
Briefing newsmen after the FEC meeting of Wednesday, August 26, 2020 in Abuja, the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswil Akpabio, said the approval was one of the highlights of the day. He also disclosed that the government has also approved the appointment of eight field experts to undertake the audit.
“The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs today presented a memo to the Federal Executive Council and at the end of the deliberations, the memo was approved. The memo is basically the appointment of field forensic auditors to undertake the forensic auditing of the Niger Delta Development Commission and the field auditors are going to be designated to go through the states of the Niger Delta region”, he stated.
Related: Enlarged NDDC Interim Management: Be Focussed On Forensic Audit, Service Delivery – Senator Akpabio
According to the minister, “This has really kick-started the commencement of evaluation of the abandoned projects of NDDC in the last 19 years estimated at almost 12,000 projects. At the end, we will be in position to know the ones that could be completed, the ones that will be useful, and the low hanging fruits that could be plucked for the benefit of the people of the Niger Delta region.
Recall that earlier in March 2020, the Federal Government had also given approval for the contract of N318 million for the engagement of a lead consultant for the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The lead consultant, according to the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Akpabio, was Olumuyiwa Bashir and Co. Ltd.
Speaking then with journalists following a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Akpabio had said: “We have secured the Certificate of No Objection from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and we are trying to bring in the forensic auditors who will carry out the audit. We have designated 10 centres for the collation of information where NDDC projects are sited. We already have a team going around the NDDC contract sites collecting evidence, which will be analyzed by the forensic auditors”.
There had been speculations in the public space that part of the reasons for the crossfire altercation between the minister and the immediate-past managing director of the NDDC, Dr. Joy Nunieh, had to do with the choice of Bashir and Co. However, what later became topical was when the sacked former MD of the commission during an interview with the press hinted that the said forensic audit aggressively promoted by her boss, Sen. Akpabio, was a fluke as there was nothing like that going on.
According to Nunieh during her verbal attack on Akpabio, “I challenge him to bring out one of the nine companies to come out and say they are carrying out a forensic audit. There is no forensic audit going on, there are nine trustworthy companies in Nigeria, none of our major auditing firms is handling the forensic”.
Related: NDDC Board: How Long Shall The Commission Be Held To Ransom?
The former NDDC MD further noted that in the Certificate of No Objection provided to the lead consultant on a forensic audit by the Bureau of Public Procurement, no source of funds was stated in it. “The BPP failed and neglected to state the source of fund in the Certificate of No Objection provided to the lead counsel”. The gist of this argument was that, as at the time, the contract had not been approved by the Federal Executive Council and the NDDC had no budget by then because the 2020 budget had not been passed. She then wondered where the said money came from.
Apart from Nunieh and whatever may be her personal grouse against Akpabio, commentators and groups have also called on the Federal Government to appoint non-Nigerian forensic auditors to handle the probe of the NDDC. Their arguments seem to boil down to one thing – the suspicion surrounding the integrity of indigenous auditors in that regard. This school of thought may recently have been worsened by doubts amongst Nigerians on the transparency and issues on the current probe of the NDDC by the National Assembly.
They maintained that since Akpabio, by his statements during the investigative panel hearing two months ago, seemed to have indicted some members of the National Assembly, it was possible that the revelations may be whittled down to give soft landing to some big names fingered by Akpabio as having gotten huge contracts from the NDDC.
Hence, the latest approval by FEC to expand the status and composition of the team of forensic auditors must be seen as a welcome development. But there still exist reasons for worry that are not far from the sensitivity of the matter on hand. One, there is need for transparency on the choice of the auditors if Nunieh’s earlier allegations of foul play were to be invalidated. One question worth asking here then is: Who by law is responsible for the choice of the forensic auditors; and what should be the auditors’ pedigree?
Assuming it was not the minister’s place to appoint an auditor, giving serious thoughts to this concern will protect him from suspicion of having hands in such choices, hence the fear that he could influence the outcome of the audit ultimately. That is to say due process must be closely followed in the appointment of forensic experts to handle the task. Again, such steps will also erase or reduce the degree of doubts on the minds of Nigerians that the forensic auditors were either nominated or appointed with the typical Nigerian factor to protect some interest.
Another area Nigerians might be interested in has to do with the ability and willingness of the authorities to state categorically the limits of the National Assembly in the matter. Conversely, between the National Assembly and the forensic auditors, demarcations or clarification must be made on who exactly is probing or investigating what and to what extent. For it appears some Nigerians are increasingly being confused about the usage of forensic audit and probe as well as the specific roles played by different bodies.
It needs be emphasized that the idea of the forensic audit of the NDDC was not Akpabio’s.
Receiving governors of the littoral states of the Niger Delta, led by Bayelsa’s Seriake Dickson, Thursday, October 17, 2019, in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari had disclosed: “What is presently on ground in the South-South region does not reflect the huge resources that have been allocated to the organization”.
The President consequently gave approval for the forensic audit of the NDDC from 2001 to 2019.
However, long before President Buhari’s prescriptive and irrevocable pronouncement, the matter had earlier surfaced when the incumbent minister of the Niger Delta Ministry, Akpabio, hinted on the possibility of a forensic audit, although, as it was later discovered, he was grossly quoted out of context because many believed he was speaking in innuendoes about his stratagem to flush his perceived political enemies who may had served on the NDDC board.
It could be remembered that Sen. Akpabio, during a meeting with the management of the NDDC on the crest of his appointment, had expressed un-political dismay that although the commission, in the fairest assessment, has performed below average since its establishment in 2000, it was unbelievable and unacceptable that, from available record, it was indebted to the tune of over N2 trillion, with uncompleted projects littering the surface of Niger Delta.
That the President, through the Federal Executive Council, has now approved more funds amounting to N700 million, is a good development. It points to government’s determination to get to the root. But it must be taken to a logical end, beyond the prevalent noise, to kill the lingering curiosities, convince Nigerians of government’s genuine intention to clean and cleanse the Niger Delta Development Commission.
