Senate begins investigation of N70.4bn NDDC phoney contracts

In a bid to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of over N70.5 billion, being mobilisation fee paid to 1,733 contractors by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) between 2008 and 2012, the Senate has begun investigation of the Commission’s books since its inception in 2000.

Members of Senate Committee on Niger Delta, led by Peter Nwaoboshi, on Wednesday arrived Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital and headquarters of the Commission, announcing that they were on assignment  to look into the Commission’s books, its budgeting and contract awarding system, from inception to date.

They spoke to Governor Nyesom Wike, on whom they paid a visit.

Nwaoboshi pointed out that the committee would also address critical issues relating to the budget of the NDDC, which he said would soon be considered by the Senate. 

On 29 February, the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation revealed that 1,733 contractors handling various projects of the NDDC between 2008 and 2012 made away with over N70.4 billion mobilisation fees, without going to the sites to execute the projects.

Emmanuel Akpan, assistant director, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) division in the Auditor-General’s office, while making submissions before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) in Abuja, said the NDDC, in response to a query by the Office of the Auditor- General over the contract scam, claimed that only projects worth N11 billion were affected.

Akpan said the Auditor- General’s office, based on its findings so far, could authoritatively establish that the total sum of mobilisation fees paid to the ghost contractors was N70.4 billion, as against the N11 billion claimed by the NDDC to the committee, of contracts not executed between 2011 and 2012, contrary to the position of the Auditor-General’s Office.

“The real value of contracts upon which monies have been collected by NDDC contractors during the period under review, as at the time of auditing, was N70.4 billion and not N11 billion the NDDC office is claiming now,” the Auditor-General of the Federation’s office stated.

Meanwhile, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has called for greater input from member states in the conception and execution of key projects by the NDDC; saying that inputs from states in the region would reduce the incidents of duplication of projects by the member states and the NDDC. 

“It is important for states to make inputs, so that necessary projects are executed by the NDDC,” said Governor Wike, while receiving the Senate Committee on Niger Delta, at Government House, Port Harcourt.

He regretted that there were several abandoned projects under the NDDC, and advised the Senate Committee on Niger Delta and the NDDC to take steps to end the era of abandoned projects. 

The governor called for allocation of funds for the completion of the East-West Road, which cuts across all the states of the South-South region. On the performance of the acting managing director, Ibim Semenitari, Wike said it was too early to assess her tenure, since she has spent a short time at the Commission.  Also speaking, Semenitari, the NDDC acting MD said the Commission has written to the State Government on the forthcoming budget of the Commission.

BEN EGUZOZIE