Senate constituted Adhoc Committee to investigate and report back in one week; the financial activities of NDDC in 2021 and 2022
READ ALSO: Counterpart Funding: Reps mandate NDDC to halt release of N15bn to FG
\\
The Senate, on Tuesday, suspended consideration of the report of the 2023 budget estimates for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
This is as it set up an Ad-hoc Committee to Investigate the Unauthorised Budget Expenditure by the Commission for the Year 2021 and 2022.
The decision followed a motion by Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central Senatorial District), who alleged that spending by NDDC on its 2021, 2022 and 2023 budget estimates was unauthorised, following the presentation of reports on the commission’s budget estimates by Senate Committee Chairman on Niger Delta, Senator Amos Bulus.
READ ALSO: NDDC Nomination: Lauretta Onochie and the ‘Confirmation Controversy’ | Throwback Thursday
In their debates on the motion, Senators Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West) and Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West) noted the need for a thorough investigation into the 2023 budget estimates as presented by the commission.
However, Senator Degi Biobarakuma (PDP, Bayelsa East) implored the legislators to consider the 2023 budget estimates as presented, arguing that it was presented to the National Assembly on time for consideration. Speaking on the motion, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the commission’s expenditure during the years under review called for proper scrutiny.
“We are faced with a situation where expenditure was done probably for more than six months or probably 80 per cent of the expenditure has been done, and we need to know what has happened,” he added.
READ ALSO: 2022 Review: Major controversies that rocked the National Assembly
The Senate President consequently constituted a committee to investigate the financial activities of NDDC, find out what had gone wrong in the 2021 and 2022 budget estimates and report back to the Senate in one week.
The committee has Senator Yusuf Yusuf (APC, Taraba) as Chairman, and Senators Seriake Dickson, Uche Ekwunife, Abdullahi Yahaya, Saidu Alkali, Adetunbi Olubunmi and Sadiq Suleiman as its members.
