Concern has mounted as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr Bassey Dan Abia and other top management of the commission meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, over fear that the team may either be sacked or an inter-agency panel set up to scrutinise the accounts of the commission.

                      
The team comprising Abia are the Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Dr Henry Ogiri, Executive Director, Projects, Mr Omatsuli Tuoyo and other members of the governing board have two more years to complete their tenure, having been inaugurated in December 2013.

A source in the commission said that the audit report recently released by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, may have heightened concerns among the members of the governing board and management who arrived Abuja last night.

The source said: “From all indications, the management of the commission may either be given the marching order because there are several petitions against it in respect of issues ranging from contract splitting and the rest, or a panel set up to probe the accounts of NDDC.

“So when we heard of the altercation between NDDC and the Office of the Auditor-General, it raised eyebrows because there are real issues to be sorted by the management and they can’t deny this fact.

“So at tomorrow’s (today) meeting with the president, the issues have to be laid bare and solutions must be explored for the commission to be able to discharge its mandatory responsibilities in the Niger Delta.

“But we suspect that some persons are already imputing politics in the whole thing and this is uncalled for; what is wrong can only be wrong, we should not beg the question at all.”

The controversy enveloping the commission came to light following the release of a special report on the activities of the NDDC by the Auditor-General, Samuel Ukura, to the National Assembly.

In the report, it was revealed that the agency could not account for N183 billions allocated to it between 2008 and 2012.
Even though Ogiri dismissed the entire audit report as a “compilation of lies, half-truth and pitiable display of professionalism”, it was gathered that even before the report was made public, Buhari had already expressed his misgivings with the way the NDDC is managed and has been politicised.

Despite Ogiri’s dismissal, the Office of the Auditor-General once again stood by the veracity of its report last night.
“The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation stands by the special periodic checks on the NDDC and its contents. Any person or corporate organisation not satisfied has the opportunity to defend itself before the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of the National Assembly,” the spokesperson for the Office of the Auditor-General, Mr. O.A. Ogunmosunle stated.

It said it took serious exception to attempts by the NDDC to not only deny the allegations, but also cast aspersions on the integrity of the special periodic audit submitted to the National Assembly.
“It is noteworthy to state that it took NDDC 16 months to grant the Office permission to commence the periodic checks beginning from December 9, 2011 to May 6, 2013.

“Similarly, it took another 16 months and several reminders to the NDDC with effect from April 24, 2014 to August 12, 2015 before the final report was submitted to the National Assembly’,” the statement added.