The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Umana, has spoken on when the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) would have a new board of directors.
Mr Umana said he is personally eager to have a board oversee the activities of the NDDC because it would help his job to “run smoothly”.
He was speaking with reporters at the Presidential villa on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The constitution of a new board for the NDDC should be done after the federal government would have issued a white paper on the forensic audit of the commission, according to the minister.
“The forensic audit was like an inquiry. Usually when the government institutes an inquiry, the findings will go back to the Federal Executive Council and a white paper will be issued. We are at the stage of concluding on that, the reports of the findings of the audit will go to the Federal Executive Council. The white paper is then the decisions of the federal government on the findings of the forensic audit.
“Of course, with the white paper released, those who committed infractions will be called to account and whatever the government has to do, the government will then proceed to do so.
“So, we are at the stage of concluding on that. And I can very conveniently say that the constitution of the board will follow immediately thereafter,” Mr Umana said.
Mr Umana said the Federal Executive Council approved additional costs for the forensic audit.
“These auditors have since concluded their work, but in the course of carrying out this work, it was discovered that they had to deal with many more projects than were initially envisaged. And the exercise also took an additional seven months. The total number of additional projects considered by the auditors was 3,773.
“So for reasons of the additional number of projects and the additional time taken, Council today approved a revised additional sum of N765, 974,975.50 to cover the additional works done by the forensic auditors,” the minister said.
The NDDC has been run by a sole administrator, Effiong Akwa, since December 2020.
There have been agitations for the removal of Mr Akwa, and the constitution of a new board for the commission.
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