Chairman of the Contract Verification Committee (CVC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Cairo Ojougboh, has disclosed that contracts valued at over N1.3 trillion were fraudulently awarded by the commission within three years.
He made the disclosure while addressing a press conference at the headquarters of the interventionist agency in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Ojougboh, in a statement issued on Wednesday by the deputy director, Corporate Affairs, NDDC, Amu Nnadi, said contracts that do not qualify for emergencies were fraudulently awarded to over one trillion naira valued in less than one year.
Ojougboh is a member of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) headed by the NDDC acting managing director, Dr Joi Nuneh and also the Executive Director (Projects) of the commission.
The IMC was set up following an order by President Buhari for a forensic audit of accounts and operations of the interventionist agency.
Ojougboh said NDDC was sinking and would have been killed and buried, but for the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari, who added saved the commission from the burden of over trading, bloated contracts and other sharp practices.
“In 2017, the NDDC awarded a total of 201 emergency contracts valued at N100,396,879,001.06; in 2018, a total 1,057 emergency contracts valued at N162,688,289,333.05 were awarded; and in just seven months of 2019, it awarded a total 1,921 emergency contracts valued at N1,070,249,631,757.70.
“We are talking about a total of over N1.3 trillion in less than three years. The yearly budget of the NDDC is hardly above 400 billion and a situation where contracts that do not qualify for emergencies were fraudulently awarded to over one trillion naira valued in less than one year amounts to not only stealing from the pulpit but stealing the entire pulpit,” he said.
Ojougboh, who is a member of the committee, said, as part of measures to sanitise and reposition the commission to fulfil its mandate, the acting managing director has inaugurated a Contract Verification Committee (CVC) which, he said, was a prelude to the forensic audit ordered by the president.
Ojougboh, who is also the chairman of the CVC, explained that the two-week exercise would cover all completed, as well as on-going projects and programmes of the commission.
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Ojougboh further said the exercise would, among other things, establish the true position of the emergency contract regime between 2016 and 2019 in the NDDC.
He observed that it was common knowledge that some of the awards were not only spurious but criminal, as available records showed that most of the awards were not backed by budget, bills of engineering measurement and drawings.
“They were just open cheques for contractors and their collaborators to fill in at the nearest banks,” he said.
“Whilst successive leadership of the NDDC may have done their best, today, the general conclusion of most stakeholders in the region is that the NDDC has not delivered on its mandate.
“At best, it has been a lack-lustre performance, with very little to show for the humongous resources that have accrued to it over the past 19 years.
“Stories of pervasive corruption, flagrant abuse of due process, abandoned projects, poor quality project delivery, etc, at the NDDC, have adorned our media space over the years.
“In an effort to stem this unfortunate tide, governors of the nine states of the region, a couple of months ago, visited President Muhammadu Buhari, not only to lay bare their perception of the commission since its inception, but to also, as members of the Advisory Council of the NDDC, offer useful advice on the way forward to the president.
“The result of this historic visit is the ordering of a forensic audit of the activities of the NDDC from inception to date by the president,” he said.
According to him, the president consequently, on 29 October, 2019, appointed the IMC to oversee the forensic audit of the NDDC.
“The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, in conjunction with the NDDC Interim Management Committee, in preparation for the commencement of the forensic audit, secured a Certificate-of-No-Objection from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for the lead consultant for the forensic audit, while that of the sub-consultants was being processed.
“The CVC is, therefore, to lay a foundation for the forensic audit of the activities of the commission from inception to date.
“To this end, all contractors, consultants (design and supervision), vendors, suppliers and NGOs or their certified representatives who have business transactions with the commission are thus requested to report with three photocopies each of their letters of award, Contract Agreement and Interim Payment Certificate (where applicable), and also to present originals for assessment, evaluation and verification to the NDDC office where such business is located.
“They are also to present letters detailing a brief statement or summary of their claims/requests on their headed papers with verifiable addresses and certified true copies of their company registration documents,” he said.
He assured that the verification exercise would expose those spurious contracts and advised contractors with fake or specious awards to stay away from the various documentation centres in their own interest.
He charged members of the CVC to discharge their duties diligently, honestly and professionally, urging them to note that the entire people of the Niger Delta and the commission had placed heavy responsibilities on their shoulders.
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