The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has quizzed top management staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), over allegations of various acts of corruption such as diversion of funds, procurement fraud and misappropriation of the agency’s Covid-19 funds, the Guardian Nigeria newspaper reports.
ICPC spokesman Azuka Ogugua, said some directors of NDDC were questioned at the Commission’s headquarters recently, after months of gathering information for an investigation, following petitions from Nigerians on the alleged illegalities and contracts fraud by some officials of the agency.
Ogugua also added that the investigation is related to the involvement of employees of NDDC in the alleged theft of Nigerian naira 5.47 billion ($ 140 million) meant for the purchase of personal protective equipment for medical workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
– The Commission is also investigating the payments of millions of naira to staff of the agency for foreign trainings during the Covid-19 full lockdown which were never attended, as well as the non-payment of entitlements to students on foreign scholarships, – Ogugua noted.
Other allegations being investigated by ICPC include the selling of back-dated contract award letters for projects and awards of contracts that were not captured in the budget of the NDDC.
