The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has handed over utility vehicles used during the physical verification phase of the forensic audit of the commission’s projects across the Niger Delta region to security agencies.

Speaking during the presentation of the vehicle documents and keys to the security agencies at the NDDC warehouse in Port Harcourt, the Interim Administrator, Dr. Efiong Akwa, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the procurement of 33 Ford Ranger vehicles used by the security operatives during the forensic exercise.

Akwa further commended security agencies, which were part of the Joint Security Committee of the audit exercise, comprising officers from the Nigerian Army, Navy, Police, Directorate of State Security and the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps, for their commitment to ensuring that the audit exercise was conducted without any security hitches.

He said: “The vehicles were provided for the security agencies as directed by President Buhari. The President also instructed that the security vehicles be handed over to the security agencies at the end of the forensic audit exercise and that is why we are doing this today.

READ ALSO: Akpabio denies money laundering, NDDC contracts’ allegations

“The ceremony is very symbolic because it tells a very good story about the security agencies. They did their job successfully without hitches. The forensic exercise has helped the NDDC to show that projects that were uncompleted.

“The President graciously directed that upon completion of the job which they did, without any loss of human life, that the vehicles should be handed over to various security agencies as part of Federal Government’s contribution in solving their logistics problems.”

Receiving the utility vehicles on behalf of the security agencies, the representative of the Nigeria Navy on the Joint Security Committee, Rear Admiral Bamidele Oluwagbamila, thanked President Buhari and the NDDC for supporting the efforts of the security agencies through the donation of the security vehicles.

Oluwagbamila stated that the security agencies would not relent in their efforts to ensure the security of lives and property in the Niger Delta region.

On his part, the Director, Research, Planning and Statistics, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Alfred Abba, who represented the Permanent Secretary, expressed his appreciation to President Buhari for supporting the forensic audit exercise just as he commended the Joint Security Committee for ensuring that the exercise was carried out safely.

The Star