We’ll audit NDDC projects, strengthen procurement processes – MD

Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr Nsima Ekere, has said a project auditing would be conducted so as to restructure the balance sheet of the commission, noting that it has liabilities running into over one trillion naira.

The new NDDC boss made the disclosure in a statement issued from the NDDC Corporate Affairs Department on Tuesday, adding that banks would be held accountable for failed projects embarked upon by the commission.

In the same vein, the chairman of the newly-constituted NDDC Governing Board, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), has said the board was taking steps to strengthen procurement processes as part of measures to ensure transparency in the interventionist agency.

Speaking about the extra-ordinary board meeting of the commission, held in Abuja, on Monday, Ekere said the board discussed restructuring the balance sheet of NDDC, involving carrying out a project audit, adding, “We have liabilities that run into well over a trillion naira.

“We will look at the projects that have given rise to this liability. Then, we will vet them and see which projects we can go ahead with and those we will discontinue because some of these projects were even not properly awarded in the first place.

“By the time we carry out the auditing, it will help us. Then of course, the audit will enable us to bring NDDC back to its core mandate. We will work along these lines that we have highlighted and make sure that we make some remarkable difference in the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.”

The new NDDC boss said the new arrangement where the commission reports to the Presidency through the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs would actually add value to the development of the oil-rich region.