CORRUPTION !

NDDC SPENDS N1.3B ON CHRISTMAS
PARTIES
IN pursuit of his anti-graft crusade, President
Muhammadu Buhari may have to beam his
searchlight on the activities of the Niger Delta
Development Commission, NDDC.
If the findings and documents obtained by Saturday
Vanguard are anything to go by, the NDDC is panning
out as a cesspool of corruption.
The documents indicate that the agency, which is
being supervised by the Presidency through the
Office of the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, has brazenly ignored the provisions of
the Public Procurement Act, PPA, in the award of
contracts for projects and services, thereby allowing
its cronies to smile home with huge amounts of
public funds.
Over-shooting contract limit
The 2007 PPA sets limits on contracts that key
officials of the commission can award; what the
board can approve; what should be sent to the
Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, and what the
Federal Executive Council should handle, in the spirit
of transparency and accountability.
Under the PPA, the Managing Director of the NDDC,
can award contracts that are not above N200 million
while the board can approve jobs that are not above
N1 billion. Specifically, any job above N1 billion must
be subjected to a competitive bidding process and
awarded by the FEC after being processed by the
BPP, another agency under the Presidency.
Contract-splitting
However, findings show that the NDDC management
has chosen to use contract-splitting as a weapon to
award huge contracts beyond its limit without
passing through the BPP, thereby making it possible
for 'insiders and their associates,' particularly
influential political elements, to make away with
billions of Naira from the commission.
Ignored Jonathan's directive
The commission under the current board, appeared
to have ignored former President Goodluck
Jonathan's directive to it not to award new contracts
but to strive to complete abandoned ones so as to
clear the backlog of funds being owed local
contractors.
Contact bazaar
Contrary to the Presidential directive, the new board
embarked on contract bazaar within the first two
weeks of its inauguration actively acquiring even
second-hand exotic vehicles at the cost of new ones.
Documents at the disposal of Saturday Vanguard
show that within its first two weeks the managing
director single-handedly issued a local purchasing
order, LPO, valued at N888,175,500 million to a Port
Harcourt-based car dealer to supply 40 assorted
vehicles.
Of the vehicles ordered, four were armoured Sport
Utility Lexus and Land-cruiser vehicles valued at
N213.8 million. It is not clear when the vehicles were
supplied and who is using them.
Shortly after the acquisition of the expensive
vehicles, the commission ordered the procurement
of security vehicles for the Nigeria Police at the cost
of N12.5 billion to enable the police provide adequate
security for the nine Niger Delta states of Abia, Imo,
Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo, Delta,
Edo and Ondo.
However, to prevent the huge contract from getting
to the BPP and the FEC for scrutiny and approval, the
commission carefully split the supply job into 12
slots and awarded it at the cost of N985 million to
each of the contractors.
Not done, the NDDC shortly after awarded another
contract worth N2.7b to 30 limited liability companies
suspected to be owned by close associates of key
officials for what it called "Intelligence-gathering and
management." Each of the 30 firms got N99.7 million
from the NDDC for the job which should have been
handled by the security agencies.
The contract bazaar was quickly followed by another
award of N1.6 billion job carefully split among 85
companies for the 'procurement, transportation and
delivery' of waste disposal trucks to the commission.
Each of the 'lucky' contractors got between N61
million to N835 million depending on the strength of
their connections with the top hierarchy of the
agency and influential politicians managing the
commission.
Internal disagreement
The contract bazaar has even led to some
disagreement between the board and some
accounting/procurement officials.
In one very despicable case, the commission ignored
the professional audit query/advice not to award a
'Quick-impact' job valued at N715 million to one
person to act as both contractor and consultant.
Brewing trouble
But trouble is currently brewing in the commission
following the resolve of some aggrieved management
staff and top officials to expose the rot in the
establishment, leading to the release of financial
malfeasance that has been going on in the place
since the last board was inaugurated in November,
2013.
One of the documents indicate that the sum of N1.3
billion was approved and released for NDDC
Christian Fellowship and NDDC Children and Disable
families end-of-the-year parties.
While the Christian Fellowship reportedly received
N500 million, the NDDC children and disable families
got N800 million.
The commission is also said to have inexplicably
moved the sum of N100 billion from its Access Bank
account on Agip Road branch to an undisclosed
location, in the heat of the last election, in which
Buhari won thereby raising eyebrow among staff and
stakeholders.
Petitions
Several petitions have been fired to the Presidency to
move against the board and urgently launch a full
scale probe into the operations and finances of the
NDDC, whose contractual obligations now stand at a
frightening N800 billion as of the end of July.
The debt is said to have risen exponentially following
the award of frivolous and politically-motivated
contracts to individuals and groups by the sacked
board in the run-up to the last election.
NIDESTAF petition
One of the petitions now before the Presidency and
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC was written by Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum,
NIDESTAF.
In the petition dated June 15, 2015 and signed by the
President, Benson Georgewill and National Secretary,
Timi Oghalle, the stakeholders pleaded with Buhari to
urgently raise a probe panel to ascertain the true
position of the finances of the NDDC.
The group also asked the President to take steps to
retrieve the funds of the commission from those
found to have illegally taken them.
Director to brief Buhari
The happenings in the commission are said to have
infuriated the supervisory department in the OSFG. It
was learned that a director in the Presidency has
decided to brief PMB, next week, on the massive
fraud in the NDCC so as to clear his name and office.
Presidency, NDDC officials speak
But when contacted, the Special Adviser to the
President on Media, Mr. Femi Adesina, said he was
not aware of what the President intends to do with
the NDCC.
Adesina said the President has not also mandated
him to make any categorical statement on the
agency.
The Head of Public Affairs of the NDDC, Mr. Ibitoye
Abosede, declined to comment on the situation,
saying he has no information regarding the issues.
Thepanacea Reports
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