NDDC forensic audit not witch-hunt, says Pondei

TRACKING___Prof. Kemebradikumor Pondei, the acting Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has said that the ongoing forensic audit of the commission is not meant to witch-hunt any individual or group.

Pondei said this in Port Harcourt on Thursday, while handing over additional tools, including 10 Hilux vehicles and five buses, to the 16 firms auditing the commission’s finances.

He said the commission decided to present the additional working tools to the auditors to facilitate their work.

“The forensic audit was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the activities of NDDC from inception, 20 years ago, to August 2019.

“So, it is on that note that lead forensic consultants were appointed and 16 field forensic auditors procured to handle the process.

“So, we are here to hand over more tools to the auditors to assist them in the ongoing forensic audit of the commission.

“The audit will unravel a lot of things in the commission and it is not a witch-hunting process but just to know the state of things in NDDC,” Pondei said.

He further said that the process was initiated to recommend ways to enable the commission to achieve its core mandate of developing the Niger Delta region.

The Lead Consultant for the audit team, Joshua Bashiru, said the audit was in fulfillment of the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said that 16 firms were involved in the probing of finances, contracts and projects executed by NDDC since 2000.

Also, Alhaji Kabiru Ahmed gave assurance that the firms would carry out a transparent audit to expose the commission’s dealings since inception.

“So, we are here to introduce the forensic audit team and update NDDC management about where we are and what is required to be done.

“We will on Nov. 13 meet with NDDC state directors and departmental directors to enable the auditors to understand how the state works,” he said.