Lauretta Onochie, the current chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and a former media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, has had a contentious relationship with the commission’s managing director, Samuel Ogbuku.
On Friday, the pair made accusations of corruption against one another.
The conversation took place during a Senate Committee investigation into the agency’s illegally spent 2021 and 2022 budget without the National Assembly’s consent.
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Onochie was accused of overstepping by the Managing Director, who was represented by Executive Director Charles Airhiavere, who is responsible for Finance and Administration, for Finance and Administration.
He said that Onochie begged to be added as a signatory to the agency’s accounts in a letter to the Accountant-General of the Federation.
In response to the accusations made against her, Onochie stated that the choice to have her sign the accounts was made by the board at one of its sessions and was never made on a personal level.
She said that the reason the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instructed the Managing Director to guarantee that her approval is sought in every financial transaction was the reason the request for a change of signature was denied.
“The CBN said I should be the confirming authority but they didn’t come back to me. That is why they have been operating the way they like,” Onochie said.
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Onochie, however, asserted that the commission was being conducted illegally, accusing the Managing Director and the entire management team.
The former media assistant asserted that the management of the NDDC currently manages 367 accounts in total, in violation of the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Accounts (TSA) regulation.
All of these accounts are in foreign exchange, according to Onochie.
The managing director acknowledged that the agency only has four active accounts but claimed that there are 367.
Onochie also told the Senate that the NDDC management had not been cooperative with the board since it took office in January 2023.
The managing director refuted this claim, claiming that there was a “trust deficit” between the board and management that was the fundamental cause of the issue.
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The revelations presented by the board and management of the NDDC shocked the Senate Committee, which was chaired by Senator Yusuf Yusuf (APC, Taraba Central).
He instructed Onochie and Ogbuku to show up in front of the committee on Monday to support their claims.
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