By Adesina Soyooye
The corruption scandal rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has become infectious. It has infected another Commission – the North East Development Commission.
According to a non-governmental group, a whopping sum of N100bn, has disappeared from the Commission.
The no- governmental group, raised an alarm against what it called a massive corrupt practices being perpetuated by the management of the Commission.
The group, Coalition of New of New Nigeria Transparency and Anti-Corruption (CNNTAC), also accuses the Managing Director of the Commission, Mohammed Goni Alkali, of high handedness, disregard for due process and the rule of law in the award of contracts running into billions
The group, therefore, calls on the Presidency and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, to urgently intervene by probing the Commission as its objectives are being ruined.
When the NEDC was established by President Buhari in 2017, It was charged with the responsibility of coordinating funds accruing from the Federation account and donor Agencies for the purpose of rehabilitating and resettling victims of insurgency, reconstruction of homes and Infrastructural development, tackling poverty and illiteracy in the North East States of Adamawa, Bauchi,Borno,Taraba and Yobe. The Board was inaugurated on May, the 8th ,2019,
In a statement signed by its Secretary,Tijani Umar, on Thursday the group alleged that the sum N100billion disbursed to the Commission under a year, has vanished without any significant impact on the refugees
It, also, alleges that the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadiya Umar Farouk, in an alleged deal with Alkali, out of the scope of operation, and recourse to the board, took N5billion recently to purchase vehicles for the military, saying it has proof of the alleged improprieties of the Commission.
The group said, “We are in possession of other documents showing the purchases of choice properties by close staff and associates of the MD in highbrow neighbourhoods of Abuja, Kaduna and Maiduguri, which can be traced to over -inflated and non-existent contracts.
“Another massive corruption scheme is on the verge of being implemented in the name of of a housing scheme in Maiduguri without the Board”s knowledge and approval.
“About N5billion has allegedly been spent on Covid-19 supplies without the approval of the Board. The MD single- handedly took care of all the Coronavirus supplies. There is massive contract splitting in the Commission,” the group asserted, reminding Nigerians that “there
is massive internal displacement in the North East as a result of activities of the Boko Haram insurgents. The insurgents destroyed houses, churches, business premises, farmlands, and schools.”
