The Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law(IHRHL) has urged the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami to keep to his words to prosecute indicted contractors and consultants of Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC).
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt and signed by Executive Director (IHRHL),Courage Nsirimovu said IHRHL will be monitoring and calling up the Attorney General and Minister to ensure that indicted persons or firms are prosecuted and public funds recovered through property forfeiture and other legal means possible.
It urged him to make public the forensic report in-order to build accountability-confidence in the people as well as reveal erring contractors and blacklist persons and firms who have stolen and wasted the resources of the Niger Delta People.
The statement further called on the President to immediately follow the rules of the commission and constitute a Board within 7 days to statutorily run the affairs of the commission.
It observed the absence of the statutory required Monitoring Committee that could check the excesses of the management of the commission, monitor the projects to see that contractors are really working, call out erring or criminal contractors for possible prosecution or recovery of funds awarded.
It, therefore, called on the incoming Board to ensure the establishment of this committee with persons of great integrity in the Civil Society Space and project experts who can easily detect faulty projects.
Furthermore, the statement called on the President to initiate an internal audit directorate in-order to avoid halting the operation of the commission just to do an audit as have been the case since 2019.
” IHRHL believes that an independent audit directorate will always mirror the state of the commission for necessary bodies to intervene when necessary”, it noted.
