Joseph Bakare
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP-Delta) on Wednesday, May 27; dismissed the allegations of padding the 2019 budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of NDDC, had made the allegations.
He also said that the allegation of having removed the regional projects of President Muhammadu Buhari, in the budget submitted to the committee and inclusion of 500 non-existing NDDC projects valued at N80 billion; was untrue.
Also, he refuted the allegation that the committee was not forthcoming in the processes leading to approval of the 2020 budget of the NDDC; noting that the senate had approved the commission’s budget in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Nwaoboshi made the clarifications at news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, May 26.
The Acting Managing Director of NDDC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, and the Executive Director, Projects of NDDC; Dr Cairo Ojuigbo had at different news fora accused the National Assembly of infractions in 2019 budget of NDDC.
The NDDC IMC had noted that the budget which would be terminated by May 31 was yet to execute any projects in the region for the fiscal year.
The Senate had earlier set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate alleged misappropriation of N40 billion by the NDDC IMC in the four months of its operations.
Nwaoboshi, who was however not a member of the Senate ad-hoc committee investigating the IMC said; “Blackmail will not stop the senate committee from doing its investigation.
“The 2019 budget of NDDC was given to the IMC since April 20, and they signed for it.
“They have been implementing the budget, no complain, while nobody said the budget was balkanised; just because the National Assembly has decided to investigate the activities of the IMC, the issue of payments, balkanisation of budget, payments among other issues came up.
“Just because the IMC will appear before the Senate Committee to defend its activities.”
He said the National Assembly has the constitutional rights to appropriate and no amount of intimidation would stop the senate from exercising its rights.
He urged the IMC to appear before the ad-hoc committee investigating it to prove its innocence over the allegations against the management; instead of embarking on cheap blackmail on the National Assembly.
