Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
The Senate has set up a seven-member ad-hoc committee to probe the \u201cfinancial recklessness\u201d of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).<\/p>\n
The committee was specifically asked to probe the IMC for allegedly squandering N40 billion in three months and seek account for other financial transactions within this period.<\/p>\n
The committee will be headed by Olubunmi Adetunbi (APC, Ekiti North) with Jika Haliru (APC, Bauchi Central), Tanko Almakura (APC, Nasarawa South), Abdulfatai Buhari (APC, Oyo North ), Chukwuka Utazi ( PDP, Enugu North), Ibrahim Hadeija (APC Jigawa North East ) and Degi \u2013 Eremienyo Biobarakuma (APC, Bayelsa East ) as members.<\/p>\n
The resolution to set up the committee followed deliberation on a motion on the \u201cUrgent need to investigate alleged financial recklessness in the NDDC\u201d \u2013 sponsored by George Sekibo.<\/p>\n
Leading the debate, Mr Sekibo said there were accusations of misuse of funds by the previous management of the commission which portrayed the NCDC as a financial conduit pipe, especially when the aspiration of its founding fathers have been forsaken.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe visible recklessness may have prompted the President to set up an Interim Management Committee while ordering a forensic audit of the commission so as to reposition it for its intended mandate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the President\u2019s action of setting up an IMC and the forensic audit may have been conceived to forestall the financial recklessness of the commission and reposition it for fast-tracking of the development of the region, the IMC has been more bedevilled with the same financial misuse, misapplication, misappropriation or outright fraud in the management of the funds of the commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IMC has inundated itself with undue gross misconducts in fraudulent contracts award without due recourse to due process and flagrant disobedience to the provisions of the sections 19, 25, 41 and 42 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin the last three months, the commission has spent over N40 billion of the commission\u2019s fund without recourse to established processes of funds disbursement which has opened up further suspicion among stakeholders of the Niger Delta Region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The lawmaker also faulted the IMC\u2019s arbitrary use of executive power in alleged wrongful sacking of management staff without recourse to established civil service rules and practice with the aim of allegedly concealing the fraudulent financial recklessness they have committed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa Press-Nigeria: The Senate has set up a seven-member ad-hoc committee to probe the \u201cfinancial recklessness\u201d of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The committee was specifically asked to probe the IMC for allegedly squandering N40 billion in three months and seek account for other financial transactions within this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":23717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[308,1425],"class_list":["post-24754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-ekiti","tag-ncdc"],"yoast_head":"\n