By Gbenga Abulude (Political and General Desk)
A coalition of advocacy groups operating in the Niger Delta are making fresh strident calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to act fast and sack the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over revelations of alleged large scale fraud and extra-budgetary expenditure that have riddled the commission since the controversial IMC came on board.
The Coalition led by Transparency And Accountability Advancement Group (TAAG) said, President Buhari should not ignore the humongous corruption that has characterized the NDDC under the supervision of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Godswill Akpabio, who has equally been accused of alleged complicity and lack of accountable supervision of the affairs of the NDDC.
The Coalition in its statement signed by Mr Damian Nwikinaka, Director of Information and Strategy, said Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the action of the President “on the worrisome on-going contract scams, financial recklessness, corruption, abuse of office and mismanagement being perpetrated at the NDDC.”
It urged the President to restore Accountability at the Commission by dissolving the IMC, inaugurate the Board already screened and confirmed by the Senate, implement recommendations of the National Assembly and direct the relevant Anti-Corruption agencies to investigate and prosecute all persons indicted in the allegations of large scale-fraud rocking the NDDC.
The statement reads in part: “Nigerians are amazed that several days after incontrovertible revelations and confessions by the Interim Management Committee regarding large scale fraud, extra-budgetary expenditure, abuse of procurement laws and mismanagement of the Niger Delta Development Commission, President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to act.
“The adhoc-Committee carried out extensive investigation of the allegations of malfeasance against the IMC. It got the Commission’s account statement with the Central Bank of Nigeria, received presentations from the CBN, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, the Bureau for Public Procurement and other relevant government agencies, as well as confessional statements, both oral and written from the IMC members, showing how the NDDC IMC blew N81.5 billion in just a couple of months on fictitious contracts, frivolities, and in breach of extant financial and public procurement laws.
“Indeed, Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the action of Mr. President on the worrisome on-going contract scams, financial recklessness, corruption, abuse of office and mismanagement being perpetrated at the NDDC… When he ( President Buhari) was asked recently what he thought of the ongoing revelations of corruption at the EFCC and NDDC, the president said that some of his appointees have abused trust by misusing their offices for their self-aggrandisement.
“Yet he is delaying action and emboldening the Niger Delta Minister, Chief Godswill Akpabio, and the IMC to continue the pillage of the NDDC, as was clearly exposed during the National Assembly investigations as part of their oversight duty.
“In the 121-page report, which was adopted as a resolution of the Senate, the Senate Committee found that the IMC, which is headed by Prof Daniel Keme Pondei as Acting Managing Director, made withdrawals in the name of contracts that could not be verified.
“These fictitious contract payments ran into billions of naira. It therefore recommended that the IMC should refund the sum of N4.923 Billion to the Federation Account. Among the payments made, the Senate discovered that the Pondei-led IMC on April 15, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown paid out N1.96 billion purportedly for the procurement of Lassa Fever Personal Protection kits purportedly for the 185 LGAs of the NDDC states.
“The Senate resolved that the IMC should refund the sum of N1.96 billion under the “Refund of Extra Budgetary Expenditure”along with the following:
- N85.7 Million, purportedly paid for overseas travel to IMC members during the Covid19 lockdown.
- N105.5 Million, purportedly paid for non-existent Scholarship grants.
- N164.2 Million, purportedly paid to the NDDC Staff Union members for a journey to Italy, during the Covid19 lockdown.
- N1.12 Billion, purportedly paid for public communication activities during the Covid19 lockdown for which the IMC failed to provide evidence of places where the campaigns took place.
- N1.49 Billion, purportedly paid for Covid19 relief materials which was not procured.
“ Beside the financial recklessness and mismanagement, was the very criminal act of the Niger Delta Minister Chief Godswill Akpabio fraudulently procuring certificates of no-objection from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for the award of two contracts, the first for a lead consultant at N318 million, and the second for the purchase of 62 cars for N1.599 billion.
“According to the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), Akpabio assured them that the contracts had budgetary provision, following which he presented Memos and obtained approvals for these contracts at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings of February 12 and June 10, 2020, respectively. However, the NDDC had no budgetary provision for these items as required by the law at the time Akpabio presented these memos to the FEC. In effect, Akpabio deceived …FEC to approve the contracts, thereby making the…FEC to commit an illegality!
“The Senate committee report on the financial recklessness of the IMC presented a detailed account of what has been going on at the NDDC in the last nine months that it has been managed by the IMC. It also made recommendations on what needs to be done. That report was adopted unanimously by the Senate at plenary on July 23.
“The Senate resolution recommended that the IMC be disbanded and made to refund the sum of N4.923 billion; that the substantive Governing Board of the NDDC be sworn in to manage the Commission in line with the NDDC Act; that the NDDC be moved back to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) in the Presidency for proper supervision
“President Muhammadu Buhari cannot afford to ignore the detailed Senate report and resolutions on the IMC, if he is really serious about his Anti-Corruption agenda. The president’s failure to act promptly and decisively since the exposures seemed to have emboldened the IMC to continue their criminal activities at the NDDC, by backdating contract offer letters and making illegal payments. “
The Coalition further explained that there are other disturbing allegations of recent cases of corruption currently rocking the NDDC which the President should as a matter of urgent priority initiate prompt and decisive steps to rescue the agency from the crisis of corruption that has engulfed the interventionist commission.
It would be recalled that the NDDC has been enmeshed in allegations of massive corruption running into about N81Bn. Reports of curious contracts awards and fraudulent water hyacinths jobs that have no budgetary provisions were allegedly awarded to brief-case companies with reported links to both management officials of the Commission and those of the supervising Ministry.
This prompted both the Senate and the House of Representatives to institute various probe panels to unravel the mess in the Commission. The reports and resolutions entailing detailed recommendations which reportedly indicted the IMC and called for outright sack of the IMC have since been forwarded to the Presidency for action. The report also asked that the NDDC be moved back to the Presidency for effective, competent and accountable supervision.
The Coalition further revealed : “A fresh petition dated August 5, 2020, and addressed to the President from the whistleblowing non governmental anti corruption group, Act for Positive Transformation Initiative, shows that the IMC had gone ahead to make frivolous payments of over N24 billion in the period from June 1 to August 5, 2020, without an approved budget in place. Signed by Kolawole Johnson, its Director of Research, the whistleblowing NGO provides names of companies and individuals paid, including the splitting of contracts, the award of fictitious contracts and the abuse of due process. For instance, on the day the IMC appeared before the Senate Committee, it paid out a cumulative sum of N3 billion to a contractor using five different companies.
“The greed of the IMC team is also not abating as the MD, Prof Pondei, paid himself the sum of 51.6 Million Naira in illegal imprest on the 19th of June and paid himself the same amount again on the 8th of July, totaling 103 Million Naira imprest in less than three weeks. Same goes for Dr Cairo Ojougboh, who collected 36 Million Naira within the same period. This is aside the 10 Million Naira they each receive, monthly, for hosting visitors.
“…He (Buhari) should take a decision on these issues that have been critically examined and highlighted in the Senate report and the Senate resolutions. These resolutions reflect the wishes and desires of the Niger Delta people, and Nigerians generally, on the way forward for the NDDC.”
