NDDC Acting MD, Pondei Opens Up On His Collapse While Being Questioned

The acting Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei, has finally reacted to his collapse during an investigative hearing at the House of Representatives chamber.

Pondei fainted while being questioned by lawmakers over alleged financial mismanagement and massive corruption.

But in an interview with Vanguard on Tuesday, the NDDC boss said the ill-starred incident was a serious one which had never happened to him before. He noted that his collapse was not staged or used to evade questions from lawmakers.

He noted that he has been dealing with baffling health issues, saying that he was surprised that some Nigerians thought he was acting. Pondei said he would not pray for anyone to experience what he went through on that fateful day.

The NDDC boss explained the management of the commission spent N59.1bn on capital, recurrent expenditures, and not N81.5bn as claimed the House Committee on NDDC. He said N81.5bn was the joint expenditure by both management from October 2019 to 31st May 2020.

He said that out of the money, N38.6bn was for capital expenditure, paid to contractors, and other expenditures incurred by previous management.

Pondei said the National Assembly is investigating the NDDC because the management of the commission tried to clean up excruciating debts by past management led by the former MD, Joi Nunieh.