NSITF Bypassed Bidding In Contract Award, EFCC Witness Testifies

A witness in the ongoing trial of a former Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige, on Wednesday told the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Gwarimpa, Abuja, that a contract supervised by the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) was awarded to a company that did not participate in the bidding process.

The witness, Pedro Chele, testified as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s first witness (PW1) in the trial.

Ngige, who served as Minister of Labour from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, was arraigned on December 12, 2025, on an eight-count charge bordering on abuse of office, acceptance of gifts and alleged contract irregularities involving the NSITF.

The case, marked CR/726/2025, is being prosecuted by the EFCC for the Federal Government of Nigeria.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, EFCC’s counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria called in Chele an entrepreneur and project manager with Imanihad Nigeria Limited, to the witness box.

Chele, told the court that sometime in 2017, his company responded to an advertisement in The Guardian newspaper for the renovation of the NSITF office in Makurdi.

According to him, his company was pre-qualified and submitted its financial bid for the project but did not receive any feedback for an unusually long period.

“After the conclusion of the submissions, it took longer than expected. So I wrote to the management of the NSITF concerning the contract,” Chele said.

He told the court that the NSITF failed to give any satisfactory response, prompting him to escalate the matter to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

“I also wrote the BPP. The BPP wrote to the NSITF asking it to give all the details, and it still declined,” the witness testified.

Chele said he later discovered that the contract had been awarded to Altitude Global Links Limited, a company which, according to him, did not participate in the bidding process.

“Later, I found out that the company that the contract was awarded to was not part of the process,” he told the court.

Following this discovery, Chele said his lawyers petitioned the EFCC, leading to an investigation during which he made a statement to the commission in 2023.

Tahir applied to tender the petition and its certificate of compliance as evidence in the matter.

Ngige’s counsel, Patrick Ikwueto, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, objected to the document, but reserved its defence for the final address.

Justice Maryam Hassan admitted the documents as evidence marking them as Exhibit P1,

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Ikwueto, the witness confirmed that his petition was against the management of the NSITF, not against individual board members.

He stated that the original contract for renovation of the Makurdi office, which he bid N85m for, was later altered to a contract for completion of the building, with the cost increased to N120m.

Chele told the court that he never received a letter of award for the Makurdi project and did not execute any agreement with the NSITF in respect of it.

He further admitted that after writing to the BPP, he was invited by NSITF officials who appealed to him to drop the matter, promising to give his company other jobs.

He said his company was subsequently awarded two contracts of N10m each, although one was later withdrawn, and that he did not bid for those contracts.

The witness said he was not part of any NSITF board meeting and only learnt through media reports that the NSITF management board had been reconstituted after his petition.

He also told the court that he was unaware whether the contracts awarded to his company followed due process, as he was not a staff of the NSITF.

The matter was adjourned to January 29 for the continuation of the cross-examination of PW1.

Dr Ngige, a former Governor of Anambra State, is currently standing trial over an alleged N2.2bn fraud linked to the award of contracts by the NSITF during his tenure as Minister of Labour and Employment.

The EFCC alleges that Ngige abused his office by approving and influencing the award of multiple consultancy, training and supply contracts to companies allegedly linked to his associates.

According to the prosecution, the contracts include seven contracts worth N366.47m awarded to Cezimo Nigeria Limited, eight contracts valued at N583.68m to Zitacom Nigeria Limited, eight contracts worth N362.04m to Jeff & Xris Limited, and four contracts valued at N668.14m to Olde English Consolidated Limited. Another four contracts worth N161.6 million were allegedly awarded through Shale Atlantic Intercontinental Services Limited.

The EFCC further alleges that Ngige corruptly received monetary gifts from contractors between May and June 2022, contrary to provisions of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

Ngige pleaded not guilty to the eight-count charge and is currently on bail, following a ruling by the court which adopted the administrative bail earlier granted by the EFCC, with additional conditions imposed to secure his attendance at trial.