As the National Assembly probe of the mismanagement of NDDC funds gathers momentum, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, said most contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) are awarded to National Assembly members.
Akpabio made this revelation on Monday as he was being grilled by members of the House of Representatives committee on NDDC in a public hearing.
He had been invited by the lawmakers on Friday to defend his actions as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and shed more light on financial misappropriation within the NDDC.
Akpabio dropped the bombshell as he was responding to a question about NDDC expenditure amid a forensic audit.
“We cannot close down the Niger Delta Development Commission because of the fact that we are doing (a) forensic audit,” he said.
“The NDDC plays a vital role in ensuring the peace and security of the region and 90 percent or more of the resources of the country come from there.
“If you close it down in totality all you will have is chaos. You will have a lot of, not just militancy, you will have a lot of insurrection.
“So it is important that people who have gone to court, people who genuinely did jobs should be paid for their jobs. For me, I am not against it because, of course, who are even the greatest beneficiaries? It is you people.”
A member of the committee took him up on his “you people” allegation and asked him to clarify.
“I just told you that we have records to show that most of the contracts in the NDDC are given out to members of the National Assembly,” the ex-Senator said.
However, at the investigative hearing on the alleged N40 billion irregular expenditure in the NDDC, Akpabio said that he was yet to see contract documents made to Tunji-Ojo’s company. “I am not sure if NDDC awarded contract to the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee, Rep. Olubumi Tunji-Ojo.
“For me to say that, I need to see that contracts were awarded to his company; may be the contract was awarded in the area where he comes from in Ondo,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo was accused of executing contracts by the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC. As a result of the allegation, Tunji-Ojo stepped aside as chairman of the committee to allow for a free and fair hearing and not to be a judge in his own case.
The acting Managing Director of NDDC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, had accused Tunji-Ojo of corrupt practices in the commission. Pondei had earlier slumped while trying to answer questions from committee members. He was immediately rushed to the hospital.
On the rift with the former acting Managing Director of NDDC, Ms Joy Nunieh, Akpabio alleged that she was sacked for insubordination. On the forensic audit, Akpabio said that the forensic audit directed by President Muhammadu Buhari is ongoing and that the process had not been hijacked as alleged in some quarters.
He explained that the NDDC draws its funds from two sources, the Federal Government and oil companies. Akpabio recommended that the budgeting system for NDDC be changed so that it will reflect budget lines in the Appropriate Act.
He also recommended some amendments to the NDDC Act to prevent the management from spending beyond its threshold by splitting big projects into small components.
Akpabio said that management of the NDDC had spent N4.2 billion, which is beyond its threshold by splitting projects into small components of N49 million to evade the approval of the supervising minister.
The minister said that no member of staff of the NDDC had been sacked under his watch, saying that even those on leave got COVID-19 allowance.
Contrary to allegations claiming that the IMC had spent N81.5 billion between February to May, Akpabio said only N23 billion had been spent. The minister said that only three contracts had been approved since he was appointed as minister of the ministry.
According to him, the contracts include the procurement of forensic auditors, purchase of official cars for NDDC and the award of emergency project on the control of COVID-19. He told the lawmakers that all contracts were approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), except the emergency COVID-19 project.
Akpabio said that at the time of his appointment, there was no budget running and could not have compelled the then IMC to pay N10 billion for Christmas largesse to all workers. He said, prior to the implementation of the TSA account, the NDDC had over 300 accounts across commercial banks saying that with such systems, monies could get missing. NNL.
