Reps probe N70 billion NDDC payments to ‘non-performing contractors’
In a series of
financial queries, about 219, raised by the office of the auditor-general of
the federation, the payments were said to have been made between 2008 and 2012.
The auditor-general
also alleged that 90 per cent of the contractors “collected the mandatory
mobilisation fees without reporting to site between 2011 and 2012,” for
contracts with a gestation period of six months.
The query further
alleged that 60 per cent of the contractors claimed they have completed the
projects, but the claims could not be verified.
The house public
accounts committee at its hearing on NDDC which began Friday had directed the
acting managing director of the NDDC, Kemebrandikumo Pondei, to tender details
of the projects and a list of defaulting contractors.
This, Mr Pondei was
also told, should be done alongside the statements of account showing the funds
recovered from the contractors, Punch newspapers reported.
This, the committee
said, was due to the claim made by the director of internal audit, Itu Ubi,
that only N19 billion had yet to be recovered from the contractors.
At its hearing on
Monday, Mr Ubi, who also represented the NDDC chief, explained that the funds
were released to the banks that guaranteed the contractors, Punch reported.
He added that some
funds had been recovered from some of the errant contractors, leaving the
balance of N19 billion yet to be recovered as against the N70 billion stated in
the audit queries.
Mr Ubi then said
that some of the contractors were unable to complete the projects due to
‘insecurity’.
Not satisfied
But the chairman of
the committee, Wole Oke, said the NDDC failed to address the various red flags
raised in the audit queries between 2008 and 2012 by the auditor-general.
“What the
auditor-general did was to invoke Section 4 of the audit act to discover the
anomalies in the NDDC,” he said.
“The main issue is
whether the interim management committee (of the NDDC) has rendered the
accounts up to 2018. We stopped at 2018 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But
clearly, there are issues here and there.”
To clear the issues,
the committee asked the NDDC management to provide the letters of award of all
the contracts and the commission’s statements of account showing the refunds.
Embattled commission
For many months now,
the NDDC has been in eye of the storm over alleged corruption allegations,
counter-allegations, and leadership tussle.
It has also clashed
with members of the parliament who are trying to unravel its management
approaches. A top NDDC staffer recently asked the lawmakers allow the
commission function ‘in peace’ even as she subtly accused them of trying to
manipulate it to their advantage.
Established with the
mandate to bridge the infrastructural gaps in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region,
some, including the Niger Delta minister, Goodwill Akpabio, has described the
commission as a cash cow.
The president had
ordered that a forensic audit by carried out on the commission’s finances, but
not so much has been heard from the probe as the commission has been enmeshed
in several controversies.
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