The Senate Ad Hoc Committee on the Niger Delta Development Commission has indicted the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio; former acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Joi Nunieh; and the incumbent, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, over the handling of the affairs of the intervention agency.
The Eagle Online is reporting that the indictment formed part of the report submitted to the plenary on Thursday by the Ad Hoc Committee headed by Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi-Ojo.
While Akpabio was indicted for weak oversight function of the NDDC, which is under his Ministry, Nunieh and Pondei came under the hammer for alleged financial recklessness,
In the report seen by The Eagle Online, the NDDC spent N129 million on condolence visits between October and May 2020.
The Panel uncovered how the NDDC IMC paid N4.9 billion for medical check up for staff of the organisation within six months.
The Panel said: “Substantial payment was made to two staff of the organisation, the staff featured heavily in the expenditure, we noticed that NDDC gave this several kind of allowances within the time under review.”
The Committee noted that the accounting process for funds in the NDDC were most times non-specific.
It thus called for the dissolution of the IMC.