There is palpable tension within Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, led by its Managing Director, Mr. Dan Abia, as they come face to face with the President Muhammadu Buhari to give him a status report on the operations of the agency, which has been rattled by huge debts totalling N1.5 trillion.
Buhari
A Presidency source confirmed that the President would receive NDDC officials with a view to seeking explanations on series of financial issues, which have attracted several queries from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukara.
In the latest query, which drew severe condemnation from NDDC, Ukara accused the commission of not accounting for N183.7 billion from 2008 and 2012 and not allowing auditors access to the agency’s account for over 16 months to audit.
Although NDDC had criticised the Federal Government’s auditor for daring to publish the audit report and sending a copy to the National Assembly, Ukara had insisted that the report was authentic and that the commission must return the said amount to the Federation Account.
It was learned that NDDC hired financial and legal experts to prepare a strong presen-tation to give them a clean bill of health.
It was also gathered that a top official of the commission had been meeting with a senior aide to Buhari, explaining why they had to bow to pressure in awarding multi-billion Naira contracts to some influential persons and their cronies even after President Jonathan had warned them against doing.
Vanguard had reported exclusively on Monday that the President was set to meet with the NDDC team this week.
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