The Niger Delta Development Commission has described the forensic audit ordered by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), as a solution to the years of underdevelopment in the oil rich region.
The Director, Corporate Affairs of the NDDC, Mr Charles Odili, made this remark in Port Harcourt on Wednesday at a two-day training organised for communication specialists drawn from the nine Niger Delta states.
Odili recalled that the NDDC forensic was ordered following a request by the governors of the Niger Delta states to highlight the areas of strength and weaknesses of the interventionist agency.
Odili added that although the call for a forensic audit might not have augured well with some few individuals in the system, the exercise would help place the commission on a sound footing.
“I am happy you are being trained today to give strategic communication support to the forensic audit teams in the nine Niger Delta states. The assignment of the forensic audit team is to evaluate and examine the financial records of the commission.”
“It has come to a point the NDDC needs to know where it stands, not just in the court of public opinion but also in the very essence of the organisation. That is why this is important, so that we can take positive steps towards getting positive results.”
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer, Clearpoint Communications Limited, Mr. Moffat Ekoriko, said the decision by President Buhari to clean up the NDDC by blocking the agency’s financial loopholes through forensic audit had received commendations from citizens thus the need to compliment his efforts.
Ekoriko said participants selected across the region would be expected to give communication support to the forensic audit through work visits to the nine states covered by the NDDC mandate.
“Information can be misunderstood and when this is done, it will create a wrong impression in the minds of the public and what you intend to do or achieve at that time might be defeated. So, we are here to train you on how to help give the public the right information,” he said
