Minister of Niger Delta affairs Godswill Akpabio has submitted the final report of the forensic audit on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The documents conveyed in sacks were received on Thursday by the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari.
In his remarks shortly before handing over the report, Akpabio, disclosed that the forensic audit covered a total of 13,777 contracts awarded from 2001 to 2019 at a final contract value of N3, 274,206,032,213.24.
He said the name and identity of a vast number of beneficiary companies were also captured as well.
According to him, “Via field verification, the forensic auditors established the exact status of all contracts for projects and programmes in all constituent states during the period under review classified into completed, ongoing, abandoned, terminated, taken-over and non-existence.”
The minister disclosed that the auditors also focused on funding gaps, irregularities, mismanagements and due process violations/conflicts of interest.
“A personnel audit and review of the governance and organisational structure of NDDC was also carried out.
“An operational guideline/manual and a fit-for-purpose organogram that would aid the transformation of NDDC to a globally competitive development agency have been developed as well.
“Available financial records of the commission were analysed with the aim of establishing the total amount of funds received by the commission from all sources, both statutory and non-statutory and the total funds and other resources paid to contractors as well as the total amount outstanding as debts with regards to such projects within the period under reference.
“The auditors have also provided policy recommendations, in terms of measures that should be taken to ensure the prevention of such irregularities and mismanagement, going forward,” he said.
