NDDC: There Is Nothing To Show For 19 Years Of Existence – Akpabio

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has condemned the National Assembly for limiting it’s investigation into the financial activities of the Niger Delta Development Commission.

The former Lawmaker noted that the probe should not be restricted to between February and July 2020 but should be a comprehensive probe of the agency’s 19 years of existence.

The Minister while speaking when members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria visited him in Abuja on Thursday, noted that the commission received over N15 trillion in the last 19 years, with nothing to show for the funds.

Akpabio further stated that a limited investigation into the activities of the commission 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.”

He added that he had earlier stated in a television interview in 2019 that the forensic audit of the NDDC would spark controversy and a campaign of calumny against him and the President Muhammadu Buhari