Says commission spent N4.2bn daily through contract splitting
The minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godswill Akpabio said yesterday that the former managing Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ms. Joy Nunieh was pompous because she felt she was bigger than him and the agency’s budget higher than the ministry’s.
Speaking at the House of Representatives investigative committee on NDDC, Akpabio who denied Nunieh’s various allegations against him, said the late chief of staff to the president, Mr. Abba Kyari, sacked her for alleged insubordination and lack of certificate.
“My permanent secretary wrote seven letters to her. Even to attend the federal executive council meeting on the 5th of February to come and give her scorecard, she refused to attend. She felt she was bigger than the minister and her budget was higher than the ministry’s.
“It is just that we don’t want to scandalise anybody. What we did was to expand the interim management and replace the then managing director, when we saw these flaws. But I pointed out on television that she was relieved of her appointment not because of anything but because of insubordination.
He added: “The former managing director of the NDDC was relieved of her appointment when I received a letter from the then chief of staff (may his soul rest in peace) that she did not possess the requisite qualifications to be there.
“For instance, we have written twice to the National Youth Service Corps and twice they have insisted that she never served and that she does not have an NYSC certificate or an exception.
“However, there were a lot of undercurrents. For instance, we did not want to scandalise her. She even swore to a fake affidavit that she had NYSC (certificate) when she did not have one,” he said
The minister stated that he had never asked anybody to swear an oath of allegiance to him. “Just for the notice of the committee, I have no presidential ambition,” he stated.
The minister also debunked Nunieh’s claim that the interim management committee under her leadership spent only N8 billion.
“The total expenditure before the Pondei committee, that they spent, was about N23bn,” he said.
He also denied asking Nunieh or any member of the IMC for N10 billion to be spent as Christmas bonus.
“That allegation is false and it is from the pit of hell,” he said.
A member of the committee, Mr. Kolade Akinjo, asked why Akpabio recommended Dr. Cairo Ojuogboh, a medical doctor, to handle projects of the NDDC, against Section 12(1) (a) of the NDDC Act.
He queried how a person who is a medical doctor was appointed executive director of projects.
“You are asking of the qualification for the office of the executive director. I agree with you. That person should be somebody who is vast in project execution. The greatest project today in the world is medical, and that is COVID-19,” responded Akpabio.
The committee disagreed with his claim.
A member of the committee, Ms Goodhead Boma, asked if there was pandemic when Ojuogboh was appointed.
On the allegation that the NDDC was awarding contracts without going through the procurement process and signing of necessary documents, the minister said only three contracts had been awarded since his assumption of office.
Akpabio said in all the contracting processes, both the technical and financial bidding processes were conducted before they were awarded.
However, he claimed that NDDC managers were splitting contracts to evade his signature.
He added that he had no hands in the contract payments by the agency as government regulation does not allow ministers to pay for parastatals’ contracts.
“It is not my business to approve payment for parastatal. Where they can come to me is when the payment is above N1 billion. Even at that, I must go to FEC to get approval,” he added.
The minister said because of contract splitting, a minister could stay for four years in the ministry without knowing what was going on in the agency.
“Over N4.2 billion was spent in a day in tranches of N49 million. The management of the agency can award contracts less than N50 million while the board has the threshold of N500 million,” he said.
