The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Professor Itse Sagay, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to remove all the Board members of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, stating that, the President with regards to the Agency, should “start afresh with a new set of people”,
He made this call on Tuesday night, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Prof. Sagay further demanded that the President injects fresh members into the Board, in view of the allegations of corruption rocking the Commission.
His words: “I will suggest that everybody there should be cleared out, and the President should not appoint a new set of people very quickly under temporary conditions, so that a permanent Board and Management can be established in the place, that will then be monitored.
“My view is that everybody should be removed right now. Clear the place, sweep it clean. Start afresh with a new set of people.”
While describing the corruption allegations as mind-boggling, Sagay wondered why forensic auditing cannot be done, despite having a regular Board manning the affairs of the Commission.
He recalled that when some appointments were made into the Commission, he was against the character of 2 nominees.
He regretted that the question mark posed on some members of the NDDC, has given a bad impression about the Niger Delta region.
This comes shortly after the 2019 budget defence of the NDDC by the Agency’s Interim Management Committee, IMC, suffered a major setback.
The NDDC team comprising of its Acting Managing Director, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, Executive Director (Project), Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, among others, had appeared before the National Assembly in Abuja, today, to defend the Agency’s budget for the previous year.
They, however, could not successfully defend the budget, as the Lawmakers pointed out some discrepancies in the budget.
More later…
