…Analysts allege ulterior motive
By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
The donation of 10 Hilux Vans and 5 buses to forensic auditors by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Thursday is fuelling suspicion in some quarters that the gift could be a ploy to influence the work of the auditors.
President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered that the accounts and activities of the NDDC be audited to know how it has used its allocations since its establishment in 2000.
The forensic audit is believed to be ongoing, although TPCN checks show that the media and the Nigerian public are yet to be updated with details of what the forensic auditors have done so far.
But TPCN gathered that on Thursday, the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei, at the headquarters of the commission at Eastern Bypass, handed the vehicles over to the forensic auditors, saying that the vehicles would facilitate the work of the auditors.
TPCN learnt that the lead consultant for the NDDC on the forensic audit, Joshua Bashiru, received the keys to the vehicles from the Acting NDDC MD on behalf of the auditing companies.
Inside sources informed TPCN that both the Hilux Vans and buses were white-coloured and that some of the buses were purchased from Innoson Motors.
But donation of the vehicles has since elicited mixed reactions from many Nigerians who are suspecting the real motive behind it.
Some are of the opinion that the vehicles could be a disguised bribe to tie the hands of the forensic auditors and prevent them from exposing any fraud they discover in the cause of the auditing.
A social commentator, Jude Oko, expressed surprise that the NDDC could spend millions to purchase vehicles for the forensic auditors that will be paid at the end of their work when cases of corruption and reckless spending are already rocking the commission.
Jude said: “Sometimes I don’t understand if Nigerian public officers reason at all before they act. This is a commission that has come under fire in recent times due to cases of misappropriation of funds and other corruption issues. It was even these corruption cases that made President Buhari to order for forensic auditing of the commission. What on earth would make them to still go and buy vehicles for forensic auditors who will no doubt be paid?
“We all know that the services of chartered accountants and auditors are not cheap, especially when a public institution is involved; so those forensic auditors will be paid heavily because it’s not going to be a one week or one month job. It might last up to 3 months. So, for me, it doesn’t make sense to buy vehicles for them because they should have their tools for their work which will all be included in their service charges.
“I read it in one of the newspapers that they said the vehicles are to assist the auditors with mobility. Does it mean the companies carrying out this forensic audit don’t have vehicles for their workers that will be executing that kind of multi-million naira contract? They’ve not told us the real reason why they donated the vehicles to the auditors but it will not be out of place to assume that they’re trying to influence the auditors. That is the opinion of many Nigerians now.”
TPCN also learnt that the management of the NDDC did not disclose how much they purchased the vehicles. Though the forensic audit is supposed to be ongoing, the Nigerian tax payers, especially Niger Deltans, are still not aware of how much the exercise will cost them. Many analysts see that as an abuse of the principles of transparency and accountability that are supposed to be the hallmarks of a true democratic system.
One political analyst, a Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner, said the non-disclosure of the cost of the forensic audit and the vehicles have further compounded the recklessness of the NDDC in terms of funds management.
“It’s quite regrettable that there seems not to be an end to this perennial issue of reckless spending and misappropriation of funds in the NDDC. I’m aware that that apart from numerous cases of corruption ravaging the commission, for which President Muhammadu Buhari exercised his veto power in ordering for the forensic audit, the commission has not yet paid the school fees of the students on its scholarship abroad. It’s also owing its contractors billions of naira after they have executed their contracts.
“You look at the Niger Delta people, especially in the villages, they’re still suffering hunger; no jobs for the youths, no good infrastructure. In fact, NDDC has a long list of abandoned projects in this region. Now, because of this same issue of corruption, their 2021 budget has not been passed, making us believe that they don’t have funds, at least on paper. If that is the situation, on what moral grounds then should they go and purchase vehicles for the firms auditing their accounts and activities with all these problems waiting for the commission to solve? I doesn’t make sense, except, of course, it’s to protect their interest.
“May be the management wants to curry favour from the forensic auditors in order to get a soft landing should questionable and indictable cases of misappropriation of funds are discovered by the auditors. But what they don’t know is that in presenting such gifts to the auditors, they have unwittingly given us cause to suspect their real motive. Politicians should know that Nigerians are wise people. The era of primitivity is gone; we’re in the age of knowledge when people are thinking and understanding things easily,” the analyst said.
TPCN’s effort to reach the management of the NDDC for a reaction to these comments was not fruitful as at the time of filing in this report.
But TPCN has it on good authority that the acting MD of the NDDC, Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei, before handing over the vehicles to the auditors, emphatically stated that the essence of the gathering on Thursday was to hand over additional working tools to the forensic auditors to facilitate their work, without specifically explaining what the tools were.
TPCN further learnt that it was when they came down from the meeting hall at the 12th floor of the NDDC building and headed straight to the car park of the commission to do the handover proper that it became clear that what the acting NDDC MD referred to as working tools were actually
the acting NDDC MD referred to as working tools were actually vehicles.
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