By IJENDU IHEAKA

The Abia State Anti-Corruption Network (ASACN) has written to President Muhammadu Buhari asking him to order the publication of forensic audit report on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to enable the correction of its past mistakes.

The network of Civil Society Organizations (CSO) in Abia released copies of the letter to newsmen at a press briefing held in Aba, Abia, on Saturday.

The group was led by Nelson Nwafor of the Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD) and Henry Nwaigwe of Ndoki Youth Federation.

The group said government needed to act on the report released recently by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and presented to the Attorney-General of the Federation through Godswill Akpabio, the minister.

They said the report, which covered 18 years from 2001 to 2019, revealed how 13,777 contracts awarded were abandoned in spite of the commission receiving N6 trillion in budgetary allocations.

With the huge sum it received, the commission operated 362 bank accounts yet it did not deliver the dividends it was expected to deliver to the oil-bearing areas.

“We demand that in line with the mantra of transparency and integrity which this administration upholds, the President should direct that the details of the said contracts leading to the 13, 000 abandoned be published.

“The details of the contractors who were awarded the contracts should be made available to the public.

“The names and positions of all those who were involved in the award of the contracts should also be published.

“That the President direct the EFCC and ICPC to begin immediate investigation and prosecution of all those culpable in the mismanagement of the N6 trillion that accrued to the Commission between 2000 and 2019.

“That the EFCC and ICPC begin the process of arrest, investigation of all contractors that have been fingered in the said abandoned projects.

“We pray that the Presidency direct the publishing of the details of the 362 bank accounts and transactions carried out”, they said.

They called on the President to also back the resolve of the Attorney-General to prosecute erring parties to the failed contracts with concrete actions.

The network also urged the President not to treat any erring party with leniency, but to prosecute any person found guilty in the NDDC contract scams. (NAN)

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