The NDDC take over by a sole interim administrator for the commission, Effiong Okon Akwa, was necessitated by a court injunction issued by Justice A.R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court.
This was disclosed by the Minister, Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, when he met with representatives of the Forensic Auditing team in his office in Abuja recently to submit progress report of the on-going Forensic Auditing of the NDDC, published by the Ministry of Information.
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Akpabio said the Sole Administrator is not an official appointment made by the Federal Government.
He disclosed that the recent take-over of the Administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by a Sole Administrator was necessitated by a court injunction issued by Justice A.R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja and not an official appointment made by the Federal Government.
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He also added that the NDDC leadership under Mr. Effiong Akwa was not permanent and would only last the duration of the Forensic Auditing, after which a board would be inaugurated.
The Minister said the Commission would focus on the completion of the East-West Road and other infrastructure projects in the region.
- “The key programme for the Niger Delta is the completion of the East-West road particularly Section I-IV and I’m happy to report that contractors are on site and work is on-going at a very busy pace. I also commend the National Assembly for the speedy passage of the NDDC 2020 budget; I think that was a patriotic action taken in the interest of the good people of the Niger Delta region.”
- “The Ministry was able to complete a lot of development projects in different States of the Niger Delta which includes the 50km road in Edo State, Skill Acquisition Centers in Cross River, Ondo, Akwa-Ibom and others with provision for under water welding.”
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What you should know
Nairametrics reported last month that President Muhammadu Buhari removed the acting Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Daniel Pondei. The President also approved an Interim Administrator for the commission, Effiong Okon Akwa.
- Last July, Nairametrics reported that the National Assembly levelled corruption allegation against the Interim Management Committee of NDDC, as the commission claimed that it spent N81.5 billion within 7 months (October 2019 to May 2020) as against media reports that the money was spent within 6 months (January 2020 to July 2020).