By Gabriel Atumeyi
A Civil Society Organization, Citizens Awareness Against Corruption And Social Vices Initiative (CAACASVI) has called for the immediate suspension by the National Assembly of the management of the Northeast Development Commission over allegation of corruption and gross mismanagement in the commission as regards its mandate of catering to the insurgency battered people of the region.
The group said the current management of the commission is yet to come out clear on its financial dealings as despite the countless allegations and being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), instead resorting to media disinformation to cover up facts.
In a statement on Tuesday by its Executive Director, Comrade Olumuyiwa Onlede, CAACASVI said an interim management should be put in place pending the outcome of the investigation by the anti- graft agencies.
The statement reads: “NEDC as being run for now is designed to fail in her original mandate; if you look at the 2021 budget of the commission it is obvious, as the commission budgeted #29B for recurrent expenditure and #1B for capital expenditure. This is totally unacceptable and the national assembly must as a matter of urgency do something about it, and the only way to do this is to suspend the present management pending the outcome of the investigation.”
“By doing this, it will give room for an interim management team that can be entrusted with the funds meant for the people of North east who has been battered by insurgency in all aspect of their lives, as we believe this is the only way to entrench some level of accountability.”
“The national assembly must not be cowed by statements from paid agents in carrying out their oversight function, also Nigeria anti graft agencies must not succumb to politics of intimidation on the pages of newspapers as they stand as the only hope of cleansing Nigeria system of corruption and from unpatriotic elements in government whose appetite for public wealth is completely insatiable.
“With the latest image laundering articles in the national dallies to dispel recent allegation of misappropriation of fund against the management of North East Development Commission (NEDC) by a group loyal to the management, not minding the negative effect of the mismanagement of funds released for the betterment of the lives of the people of North east geopolitical zone that is ravaged by insurgency.
“We are compelled to set the record straight by bringing to the public notice that there is an ongoing investigation by EFCC and ICPC occasioned by our petition to the anti graft agencies on the need for save NEDC from assuming the position of a failed commission and this is based on the allegation as we have in the public domain.
“The National assembly (House of Reps) ad hoc committee that investigated the allegation, for reasons best known to them told Nigerian people that the total monies released to NEDC so far from inception is less than #100B. But on the contrary, due to due diligence by our anti graft agencies, alleging that the sum of #100B was released to the commission so far may not be far from the truth if you include releases from ecological fund.
“We want to leave it at that for now, as we will not want to pre-empt the out come of the investigation by anti graft agencies.
This is not the first time the management of the new commission is coming under close scrutiny and condemnation.
Last year another group, Coalition of New Nigeria Transparency and Anti-Corruption also alleged corruption and high-handedness in the Commission.
The group in a statement by its Secretary, Tijani Umar, said the Managing Director, Mr Mohammed Alkali, displayed disdain for due process, transparency and the rule of law, further cited illegal award of over-inflated contracts running into billions of naira by him without recourse to the board as stipulated by law as part of the issue bedevilling the agency.
Recall that the House of Representatives last year ordered an investigation into alleged misappropriation of N100 billion at the NEDC.