The Minister, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDCC, Usani Uguru, said the Federal Government has commenced an investigation into the N1 trillion debt the commission owed contractors since its inception 17 years ago.
The NDCC is a federal government agency established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000 with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Following allegations that some members of staff of the commission were demanding for fractions before contract payments are made, the commission disclosed its intention to deal with the situation by verifying all projects and resources deployed to the commission since its inception.
The Minister who disclosed this on Thursday to journalists in Abuja, according to Vanguard reports, said the government was determined to investigate the huge debt.
He said the oil rich region is fundamentally deplorable despite the enormous allocation the region has been getting in the past 17years.
“The region is deplorable and the question is that for all these years that resources had been allocated there, what has been happening and this curiosity leads us to research what is responsible for the situation.”
“That led to the knowledge of so much debt without anything to show for it. So, we are compelled by circumstances, not by our desire, to know why so much waste had taken place,” he added.
