The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has criticized what he described as the limited scope of the National Assembly’s inquest into the financial activities of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
According to him, the probe should not be restricted to between February and July 2020 that is currently the mandate of the National Assembly but should be a comprehensive probe of the agency’s 19 years of existence.
Speaking when members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria visited him in Abuja on Thursday, the minister explained that the commission received over N15 trillion in the last 19 years, with nothing to show for the funds.
Akpabio noted that the discretionary probe would not address the problem of the commission, which he described as “a cesspit of corruption.”
He assured Niger Delta residents and the country that the outcome of the ongoing forensic audit would expose the magnitude of the rot in the agency.
He said, “Why can’t people ask questions? How come it is only now that the noise is louder? How come it is only now that even our parliament has found it necessary to conduct a selective probe of NDDC? Instead of beginning from the inception, year 2001, they are now doing five months probe out of almost 20 years of existence. Why?
“NDDC has been in existence since 1999; what is really happening now? How is it all petitions on earth are happening? When the wind blows, it blows along with the answer.”
