NDDC begins implementation of forensic audit, terminates 1,301 contracts

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has announced the termination of 1,301 contracts as part of the implementation of the commission’s forensic audit report.

President Muhammadu Buhari he ordered the auditHe took over the operation of the NDDC from 2001 to 2019, in response to widespread allegations of corruption in the agency.

The Olusegun Obasanjo administration created the NDDC in 2000 to accelerate development in the troubled Niger Delta region, but corruption and maladministration have plagued the commission in recent years.

The NDDC, in a public notice published on its website on November 10, said the termination of the contracts followed the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari and said the affected contracts were those that were “not mobilized from 2000 to December 31, 2019” by the contractors. .

Completed contracts include road construction, land reclamation, renovation of classroom blocks, installation of electrical transformers, renovation of hospital buildings and rehabilitation of water projects, among others.

They are across the states that make up the Niger Delta region (Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers), the statement signed by the Director of Corporate Affairs of the NDDC. Ibitoye Abosede.

Contractor to refund money

“All affected contractors are advised to note that all monies received through any mobilization of the projects must be immediately repatriated to the Commission’s Account at the Central Bank of Nigeria,” the statement said.

NDDC advised the affected contractors to contact the Directorate of Project Monitoring and Supervision or state offices of the commission for further enquiries.

“This exclusion is subject to any future award in accordance with the Public Procurement Law and project award processes,” the commission added.

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President Buhari said this last year Every kobo stolen from NDDC recover and punish the guilty.

As Mr. Buhari last month sacked the interim administrator of NDDC, Effiong Akwa he replaced the acting Managing Director, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, who was serving as Director in the Delta State office of the commission.

“N300 billion contracts awarded without due process”

Meanwhile, Vanguard newspaper reported Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Umana Umana, said the sacked interim administrator, Mr. Akwa, awarded N300 billion contracts without proper follow-up.

“The perception is that NDDC has failed. There is also a perception of widespread and endemic corruption in the commission. True or false, I don’t think it’s a good story to go somewhere and be introduced as an NDDC employee and the first thing that person should think about you is that you are one of the most corrupt. that he needs.

“It’s not a good story for your children either. It’s up to you to change that perception. There is complete failure. It is this failure that makes it possible for one man to sit alone in this committee and issue letters of award without due process, N200 billion, N300 billion, under the guise of emergency,” Umana said while addressing the staff of the committee.

“We cannot accept this clear impunity. We are already talking about over N3 billion in debt and one man will still sit alone and send letters of another N300 billion without following due processes? And that was while awaiting the court audit.

“The acting director is directed to give a full report, and it should go to the president. This was without my knowledge, so I want a report; I want to terminate all these contracts immediately. There was no budget at the time these contracts were awarded,” he added. .

Next, the minister said: “And I have seen people bringing me papers. One person will bring 10, 15 papers, talking about emergency repairs of failed road sections in Delta, Abia and Imo states, 2km, N800 million. If you use N800 billion to repair 2 kilometers of failed sections, how much will you use to build the road?

“I knew that the conditions for conducting a forensic audit were not favorable for this investigation, because if the authors were the ones who agreed to carry out the audit, then it would not make sense. Anyone who stands in the way of undermining the directive of Mr. Lehendakari will be duly punished.

“Some contractors would be blacklisted, including directors, from the court audit report. We notice this because people are still awarding and signing contracts from their homes even when they have left the commission. This is anarchy, impunity.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been edited to reflect that 1,301 contracts have ended, not 567 as previously reported.