NDDC Acting MD, Kemebradikumo Pondei (left) and before the panel, right
Acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Kemebradikumo Pondei, told the House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee that is investigating the activities of the NDDC that a whopping N1.32 billion was spent as staff relief fund for the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19). This is contrary to similar Senate hearing two week ago, when Pondei claimed that the NDDC spent N1.5 billion to take care of staff, besides their salaries.
He told the committee, “The youth were given palliatives to help cushion the effect of the pandemic on the people. The youth were idle and to avoid violence, they were paid. Five million for youths and five million for women and five million for people living with disabilities in each senatorial district.”
But on Monday July 19, when the committee made reference to the figure he brandished earlier regarding the COVID-19 relief, he said: “We used N1.32 billion, not N1.5 billion, to take care of ourselves as COVID-19 relief funds. The amount the Interim Management Committee (IMC) used to take care of NDDC staff as COVID-19 palliative was N1.32 billion, not N1.5 billion.”
The session was presided over by the coordinator of the panel and Vice Chairman of the committee, Thomas Ereyitomi. He took over after the chairman stepped aside at the start of the hearing over allegations of bias.
The NDDC acting MD however, disagreed with the committee that the commission had extra-budgetary spending by approving that sum for themselves. He also said N81.5 billion was spent from October 2019 to May 31, this year by the NDDC. Of this, he explained that the incumbent interim management committee he heads, which came in February spent N59.1 billion.
His words, “Of this, N38.6 billion was spent on capital projects. N35.3 billion was paid to contractors hired by previous administrations,” adding that N20.5 billion was spent on recurrent expenditure between February 20, 2019 and May 21, this year.
He said the expenditure accounts for a backlog of debt for about three years. Duty tour allowances have not been paid for three years; we cleared it. Scholarship fees have not been paid since 2016. He stated that the NDDC paid N500,000 to each beneficiary. He also told the committee that the commission paid a contractor N641 million for the completion of what he called ‘turning point road’ in Asaba and over N500 million to a consultant to identify NDDC projects in different parts of the nine Niger Delta States.
