The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Monday insisted that it spent an estimated N1.05 billion on palliatives to reduce hardship caused by COVID-19 lockdown in the area.
NDDC’s spokesman, Charles Odili in statement in Port Harcourt stated that the money was partly shared by the nine Niger Delta states.
“NDDC provided N775 million to support the nine states in the Niger Delta and also released another 270 million as palliatives to women, youths and the physically challenged.
“The palliatives also includes medical aids and food items aimed to ameliorate the sufferings of the people in the region.
“The commission had set up a committee at the time to handle the distribution of the palliatives to people of the Niger Delta,” he clarified.
Odili said that the commission was aware of activities of fraudsters requesting the bank accounts of members of the public to purportedly benefit from the palliatives.
He said the scammers had published advertorials on social media to deceive unsuspecting Nigerians.
“We alert people of Niger Delta to the fraudulent activities of dubious individuals who have been asking people to submit their bank details to benefit from NDDC monetary palliatives.
“We wish to inform the public that NDDC committee on the distribution of palliatives has since concluded its assignment.
“Therefore, anybody luring people to submit bank details for palliatives is a fraudster and should be treated as such,” he warned.
The NDDC spokesman called on members of the public to report sponsors of the fraudulent advertorials to security agents.
