Of recent, the 20-year-old Niger Delta Development Commission has dominated major headlines in the electronic and print media in the country for alleged corruption.
Yet, the doling out of funds and other palliatives by NDDC to nine states making up the commission to cushion the effects of COVID-19 pandemic has taken a back seat in the public discussion.
A document exclusively obtained by Straightnews shows that such major crude oil-producing states as Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States were given N100 million each to fight the virus.
Other states such as Abia, Edo, Cross River, Ondo and Imo States with less production of barrels of oil collected N75 million each.
An anonymous source told Straightnews that “In all, the commission doled out a total of N775 million as palliative funds to the nine states.”
“In addition, the commission bought food items and other essential consumable items worth more than one billion Naira and distributed to the nine states as a way of assisting them to fight hunger afflicting the less privileged during the pandemic lockdown,” the source in the NDDC confided in the online newspapers.
