NDDC Directors Detained Over COVID-19 Fund
Two directors at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have been arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
One of the arrested directors is in charge of education, health, and social services, while the other is in charge of special projects.
Their arrest, PREMIUM TIMES learnt, borders on allegations of abuse of office regarding COVID-19 spending by the NDDC and the mishandling of the commission’s scholarship programme.
The directors, whose names could not be ascertained Friday night, were arrested on Monday and were detained till Thursday before they were released on administrative bail.
Azuka Ogugua, ICPC’s spokesperson, confirmed the arrest to PREMIUM TIMES, Friday.
She did not, however, mention where the officials were detained and when they would likely be quizzed again.
The NDDC was set up in 2000 by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo to fast-track development in the troubled Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
The commission has, however, been plagued by corruption, while the people in the region continue to live in poverty and the commission’s uncompleted projects are found in almost every community.
The National Assembly launched a corruption probe of the agency which later became controversial, with the commission’s management accusing senators and House of Representatives members of cornering for themselves several contracts.
