Reps get NDDC, NBET audit reports

By Henry Omunu

Queries expenditure by commission without due process

Auditor-General of the Federation has transmitted the six-year audit reports of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts.

Chairman of the committee, Rep. Wole Oke ( PDP/Osun), confirmed the receipt of the reports on Tuesday, saying: “yes, we now have the auditor general of the federation’s audit report on the NDDC from 2013 – 2018 as well as that of NBET from 2017 – 2019, respectively.”

He assured Nigerians that both reports would be given accelerated consideration when the House resumes from its annual vacation The report titled: “Special periodic checks on the activities and programmes of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), for the period 1st January 2013 – 30th June, 2018” was transmitted to the chairman of the House Public Accounts Committee via a covering letter with reference number OAuGF/ GEN.CORR./SSA/50 and dated 18th August, 2020.

Some of the queries contained in the report include payment of medical check-up expenses to NDDC part-time board members – N459.350 million, excessive payment of imprest to the executive board members amounting to N1,358,300,000 and the engagement, and payment of external solicitors without the consent of the justice minister, and attorney general of the federation to the tune of N1,582,986,030.

Also queried is the irregularities in the award of contract for logistic and consultation services of N199,474,160.50 and award of emergency contracts without stating the contract prices amounting to N3,001,517,063.27, Daily Times gathered.

Others include doubtful commissioning of consultants for the studies and design projects after the award and execution of the relevant projects of N485,128,179.79, payment of rent to a legal advocate on a property belonging to the River State government, housing the NDDC headquarters at N1,225,000,000, payment of rent to retired generals for regional security surveillance of NDDC projects without evidence of service delivery that gulped N698,128,550 as well as inappropriate payment of tenement rate without valid computation in line with relevant tax laws of N725,460,000, appointment of special and personal assistants for members of the governing board, and payment of their salaries and allowances as government expenses at N1,005,743,015.14.

The auditor general also queried the N1,714,074,999.93 expended on the entrepreneurship development scheme without specific benefits or procedure for the recoupment of NDDC investment in the partnership, N190,956,527.75 payment of compensation through Chris Oghene Omoru & Company without evidence of job execution, N86,531,503 irregular payment of compensation, N2,527,000,000 expended in the supply of 3,852 doses of Hepatitis B vaccines and 1, 570 doses of typhoid vaccines and supply of Lassa fever kits to NDDC warehouse in Port Harcourt, distribution, transportation and storage of the vaccines at the cost of N949,220,780, contract on dredging/desilting of Imo River, Onuimo and Ihitte Uboma (lot 2) Ihitte Uboma, Imo State and N994,415,000 contract for the dredging/desilting of ObanoOkposha Oguta Lake Waterway (lot 2) Imo State.

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The auditor general also queried the NDDC over “wastage of public funds due to collection of mobilization fees without report to project sites by contractors at N61,468,160,743.03, some former political office holders and some staff of NDDC retiring with government property in their possession without authorization, incomplete update on contract file, non-submission of comprehensive nominal roll to the periodic check team, appointment of staff on contract staff to the director level without taking into consideration the available vacancies and appointment of directorate cadre personnel as political staff to serve as aides to board members.

In the same vein, the auditor general also forwarded the report on the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) audit monitoring and evaluation of capital projects and programmes from June 2017 to June 2018.

The audit queries in the report include the non-submission of annual audited financial statements for six years from 2014 – 2019, payments for contracts not executed at N20,952,000, variation of contracts without approval at N4,835,856.56, unauthorized payment for international training without approval that gulped N85,632,229.55, payment without supporting documents of N1,310,000 and spending government funds on status vehicles.