Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
By Abasifreke Effiong
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said that more than 60 percent of contracts given by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, are awarded to federal lawmakers.
Nigeria’s lower parliament, the House of Representatives, is investigating an alleged N40billion expenditure by the Interim Management Committee, IMC, of NDDC, headed by Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei.
The IMC has been accused of spending monies not approved in the budget by the National Assembly.
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The investigation which was televised live on major electronic and online media channels on Monday, 20th July, is going on concurrently with the forensic audit of the commission ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Akpabio, who is the supervising Minister of the NDDC said during the investigative hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on NDDC that most of the contracts awarded by the commission were given to members of the National Assembly.
“Members of the National Assembly are the greatest beneficiaries of contracts in the NDDC. I am telling you that I have records to show that most of NDDC contracts are given to National Assembly members”, Akpabio said.
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Before the commencement of the forensic audit of the NDDC, the NDDC management had accused the chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on NDDC, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi and Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, of milking the commission.
The chairman of the senate committee on the NDDC, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, was reported to have collected over 3000 jobs from the NDDC, collected money for many of the projects but did not execute the jobs.
When Akpabio told the committee investigating allegations of corruption against the current IMC of NDDC that he has records that members of the National Assembly were biggest beneficiaries of NDDC jobs, and particularly said the “chairmen of the NDDC committees in the National Assembly can explain”, the acting chairman of the investigation tried to stop him.
Acting chairman of the investigation panel, Hon. Thomas Ereyitomi, said repeatedly “dear honourable Minister, it’s OK”, in an attempt to stop the Minister from speaking further on the issue.
Recall that Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, had recused himself from the ongoing investigation of the commission.
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The Interim Management Committee of the NDDC had last week requested that Tunji-Ojo should not preside over the probe as he had also been accused of “crime” against the commission.
The lawmaker stepped aside for Thomas Ereyitomi to continue the investigation into mismanagement of funds by the Commission.
It would be recalled that the Acting Managing Director of the commission, Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei last week staged a walkout on the committee, stating that Hon. Tunji-Ojo, of benefiting from corruption in the NDDC.
