NDDC Awarded Over N1trn Fabricated Contracts In Three Years

The acting Executive Director, Projects, and Chairman, Contracts Verification Committee of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Cairo Ojougboh has said that the agency awarded fabricated contracts worth over N1trillion from 2016-2019.

President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered a forensic audit of the operations of the NDDC from 2001 to 2019, saying the development in the region did not justify the huge resources that had been allocated to the agency.

Ojougboh, who briefed newsmen Wednessday in Port Harcourt on behalf of the Interim Management Committee of NDDC, said that contracts were “tagged emergency contracts” and were not reflected in the commissions budget.

He further explained that open cheques were issued for the contract awards which he said were presented to the nearest banks.

He also stated that the ongoing verification carried out by the committee would expose the dubious contracts in the course of the audit.

“Among other things, this verification is intended to establish the true position of the emergency regime between 2016 and 2019 in the commission.

“It is now common knowledge that some of the awards were not only spurious, but criminal as records available to us showed that most of the awards were not backed by budget, had no bills of engineering measurement or drawings and were just open cheques for contractors and their collaborators to fill in at the nearest banks.

“In 2017, for instance, the commission awarded a total of 201 emergency contacts valued at N100.4bn.

“In 2018, a total 1,057 emergency contracts valued at N162.69bn; and just seven months of 2019, a total of 1,921 emergency contracts valued at N1.07tn were awarded.

“So, we are talking of a total of over N1.3tn in less than three years.

“The yearly budget of the NDDC is hardly above N400bn and a situation where contracts that do not qualify for emergency were fraudulently awarded, valued at over N1tn in less than one year, amounts to ‘not only stealing from the pulpit, but stealing the entire pulpit.” He said.

He commended the effort of the president and noted that the commission would have been dead and buried if not for his intervention through issuing a directive for forensic audit of the NDDC.

According to him, “If President Buhari did not order this forensic audit, the NDDC would have been grounded to a halt, killed and buried. He saved the NDDC from being shut down due to bloated contracts, overtrading and other sharp practices in the commission.

“The verification will expose those spurious contracts. Contractors with fake or spurious awards are advised in their best interest to stay away from the various centres.”