The Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, has reacted to
allegations of corrupt practice levelled against the management of the
Northeast Development Commission, NEDC.
AYCF President-General, Yerima Shettima described the
allegations of corruption levelled against the commission as false.
In a statement he signed and issued on Sunday, Shettima said
findings by AYCF showed that the sum of N140 billion was earmarked for the
commission, but it had so far gotten only N70 billion.
He explained that out of the N70 billion, N50 billion has been used to execute a considerable number of development projects in the North.
Shettima, however, stressed that the allegation against the
commission was a handiwork of mischief-makers.
He vowed that AYCF would closely monitor the operations of
the agency.
According to the AYCF President-General: “We have been
following closely the systematic propaganda about the so-called hundreds of
billions purportedly squandered by the management of the Northeast Development
Commission. We are aware that this systematic storm in a teacup was created
when the embarrassing NDDC massive corruption became an issue of national
discourse.
“Much as we, as a group, would like to see that official
corruption is openly punished, we would not be drawn into a malicious campaign
to create a corruption case where there is none.
“We take exception to the use of unfounded allegations
against the North East Development Commission. As true stakeholders who
canvassed for the establishment of the Northeast Development Commission, we
would not like to join the small crowd working to destroy the entire legacy
with falsehood.
We, therefore, wish to declare as follows: “We took our time
as a group to investigate the stupendous amount of money being bandied as
having been either stolen or misappropriated. We have since found out that the
agency has never got official disbursement beyond N70 billion. And we won’t be
surprised to discover that the disbursement came in phases. So where did the
news of hundreds of billions of naira emanate from? We challenge anyone to
provide details of the so-called billions.
“Our findings have revealed that the total allocation of
funds earmarked for the Northeast Development Commission was N140billion. And,
most importantly, the agency has, out of that N70 billion executed a
considerable number of development projects. As at the time of concluding our
independent investigations, the agency still has about N50 billion safely in
their treasury, despite the multiple projects it already did. Significantly,
this is one agency being closely monitored by even the National Assembly. Therefore,
fifth columnists, working hand-in-hand with persons bent on destroying the
legacy are wasting their time.
“It should be abundantly clear to all and sundry, that the
attempt to willy-nilly compare the NDDC management to that of the North-East
Development Commission will never fly among enlightened people. The fact of the
matter is that the two sets of Nigerian managers can never be the same. What
the NDCC management has been doing for many many years and getting away with
cannot happen in the North. We don’t harbour managers of agencies who would use
public money to fund their flamboyant lifestyles. It is not in our character
and therefore totally unacceptable.
“Our group, the AYCF, which joined millions of other
prominent Nigerians in the campaign for setting up the Northeast Development
Commission would have been the first to take the management of the agency to
the court of public opinion. We would have since mounted a massive campaign for
sanctions against the agency.
“It seems the agenda behind the latest unverifiable
accusations against the agency were carefully planned to undermine the ongoing
and future projects. The mischief-makers expected that the NDDC matter would
give them a golden opportunity to hit at the Northeast Development Commission.
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