Office of Auditor General of the Federation has condemned Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) delay in responding to its alleged mismanagement of N183 billion
A statement released by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and signed by Ogunmosunle, O.A. for the auditor general complained that “at the time of this Press Release, the NDDC is yet to respond to the Special Periodic Checks.”
The statement noted that “it took NDDC, 16 months to grant the Office permission to commence the periodic checks beginning from 9th December, 2011 to 6th May, 2013. Similarly, it took another 16 months and several reminders to the NDDC with effect from the 24th of April, 2014 to 12th August, 2015 before the final report was submitted to the National Assembly.”
The Auditor General decried media reports alleged to be engineered by the NDDC “denying and casting aspersions on the Special Periodic Checks recently submitted to the National Assembly.”
The Office of the Auditor General said it stands by its report and its contents despite “the negative sentiments occasioned by the NDDC’s condemnation of the Special Periodic Checks in various media calculated to demean the efficacy of the Constitutional mandate carried out by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.”
The statement maintained that “the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has a constitutional mandate to submit its Reports to the National Assembly and in doing so, due process are usually followed.”
The NDDC was reminded that if it “is not satisfied with the contents of the Special Report it has the opportunity to defend itself before the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of the National Assembly.”