By Our Reporter
A non-governmental-organisation, the Act for Positive Transformation Initiative claimed that it has uncovered moves by the Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission to cover up the alleged N40bn fraud within the organisation.
The Head, Directorate of Research, Strategy and Programmes of the organisation, Kolawole Johnson, in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja said the NDDC had sent a request for virement to the National Assembly few days to the end of the budget lifespan, which is expected to end on May 31, 2020.
The statement reads, “In the secret letter which was addressed to the Senate and was signed by the acting Managing Director, Prof Daniel Pondel, the IMC presently seeks for virement to cover up several illegal spending like a whopping N400m purportedly spent on ‘Regional Communication Strategy/Production of Annual Reports’, a project the 2019 budget as passed by the National Assembly provided N110m for.
“Some line items on the virement list shamefully exposed the frantic motion of the commission to reverse the illegal acts that will certainly send many actors to jail.”
The group said the sudden request at the middle of an investigation of N40bn fraud in the commission confirmed its suspicions.
The statement urged the National Assembly not to allow the allegation of fraud probe to go under the carpet and not to allow any of its members to derail the investigation.
It added, “The shameless virement request is an open attempt to further impoverish the people of the oil-rich region and make their life even more difficult; the National Assembly must not let this happen.”
