The investigation into the financial malfeasance in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) took a different turn on Tuesday.The House is investigating how NDDC spent N81.5 Billion from february 2020 to May 2020.
Recall that the acting managing director of NDDC, Prof. Daniel Pondei slumped while testifying before the the House of Representatives committee.
The Minister for Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Ukpabi while answering questions from the lawmakers said that majority of contract awarded in the NDDC were being awarded to members of the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives).
The House of Representatives on Tuesday through its Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabimila has given a 48 hours ultimatum to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Ukpabio to publish names of lawmakers he accused of taking up contracts with NDDC. The speaker said the minister must publish names of companies, contract amounts, location of projects and payments details.
The Speaker said, “This is my fifth time in the House and I have never benefited from any contract and it is so for many of us here,”.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives alleged that Akpabio was just playing games by accusing the lawmakers and that it is to cause distractions. He reminded the committee that the Chairman of House of Representatives committee on Niger Delta, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was accused of corruption and having contracts without any proof to back it up. The committee chairman has to recuse himself as result of allegation.
He noted that Akpabio denied knowledge of any of contract Tunji-Ojo was accused of, stressing that such a situation would not be allowed to stand in the parliament. The allegation against Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo was made by Prof. Daniel Pondei, acting MD of NDDC
According to the Guardian, a source in NDDC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, insisted that some lawmakers were contractors to the Commission.
He said that companies linked to some National Assembly members were among the 212 contractors whose payments were recently published in national dailies.
He alleged that when the NDDC 2019 budget was passed, the lawmakers refused to release the budget to the Commission until they were paid for jobs allegedly done. According to him, it was after payment was made for 20 of the jobs between 17th and 19th of March, 2020 that the lawmakers released the budget copy to the Commission
“They wanted to be paid N3.7 billion as 60 per cent of the work done for a N6.4 billion (skill acquisition in Niger Delta). The problem is that none of the work was done. An employee of the Commission had raised a memo that the jobs were not executed and should not be paid for,” he said.
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