The long- awaited forensic audit report of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The report which was submitted penultimate week by the Hon. Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio seems to have separated stakeholders from certain anxieties.

But the two major anxieties that Nigerians are battling with are the alleged blatant looting of the Commission and inauguration of the Board which President Muhammadu Buhari promised to do immediately after submission of report.

We at THISNIGERIA want the Board already screened by the Senate about two years ago to be inaugurated immediately and past looters of the Commission brought to book without let or hindrance.

The President had ordered a holistic forensic audit of the Commission from inception to August 2021 in response to the yearnings and cries of the people of the oil-bearing States.

The exercise was meant to reposition the organization for effective service delivery and transformation of the Niger Delta region. This was necessitated by the fact that the developmental output in the region was not commensurate with the investment by the Federal Government.

We commend the Buhari administration’s foresight in ordering a forensic audit of the Commission. But the forensic audit report is unpalatable given the dimension of stealing that took place in the Commission during the period under review.

For instance, between 2001 and 2019, the Federal Government has remitted N3, 375, 735, 776, 794.93 three trillion, three hundred and seventy five billion, seven hundred and seventy six thousand, seven hundred and ninety four naira, and ninety three kobo as budgetary allocation, and N2, 420,948,894191, two trillion, four hundred and twenty billion, nine hundred and forty million and eight hundred and ninety four thousand, one hundred and ninety one naira, as income from statutory and non-statutory sources, which brings the total figure to approximately six trillion naira, so far remitted to the Commission.

We commend Lead Forensic Auditors and other 16 reputable audit firms that partook in the exercise for a job well done.

We therefore call on the Federal Government to make public the forensic audit report for proper scrutiny and analysis.

Many of the NDDC contractors who swindled the organization because they saw it as a conduit for patronage are politicians.

They must be arrested, investigated and prosecuted in accordance with the extant laws of the country.

It is really scandalous that a whopping N6 trillion has been invested in the region with nothing to show for it.

Those who cornered contracts for about 13,777 projects only to compromise them must be arrested and made to cough out the money without further delay.

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It is also unbelievable that the NDDC had over 362 multiple bank accounts. This does not give room for proper bank reconciliation, equity and accountability.

We call for proper commencement of criminal investigations, prosecution, recovery of mismanaged funds and adequate repositioning of the Commission for efficient service delivery. Those found guilty must be punished accordingly.

The Federal Government should, as a matter of urgent national importance, inaugurate the new Board appointed by President Buhari which was screened by the Senate about two years ago.

An NDDC which is plagued by misplaced priorities as a result of interference by politicians needs to be sanitized. The NDDC must be run in tandem with its Act.

The duly constituted Board will ensure that the Commission has equal representation of all the nine littoral states that constitute the Niger Delta.

The recommendation to reduce the size of the NDDC Board is an attempt to initiate an elongated process which would subject the Board to external manipulations.

While thanking the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and all those who contributed to the success of the interim period so far, we insist that this is the time for the right thing to be done for the Niger Delta region which has been short-changed for a long time.

It is apposite to emphasize that the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta region also affects the overall transformation of the entire country.

It is the state of a country’s or region’s infrastructure, human capital development and its internal security mechanisms which need showcasing to skeptical would-be investors abroad.

With a new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in place, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) must be operated on a clean slate for effective and acceptable result.