Most NDDC contracts go to lawmakers

Most of the contracts of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) are given out to members of the National Assembly, Niger Delta minister, Godswill Akpabio, has said.

Mr Akpabio said this during Monday’s investigative hearing held to probe the allegations of corruption in the NDDC.

The revelation unsettled the hall briefly, but the deputy chairman of the committee, Thomas Ereyitomi, who headed the panel after the chairman, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, stepped aside over allegations of bias, calmed some members who charged at the minister.

But when Mr Akpabio, a former senator and minority leader of the Senate, was asked if he was given the said contract when he was a lawmaker, he claimed ignorance.

During the hearing, various officials who testified before the House committee made allegations of reckless, unbudgeted and unaccounted spendings by past and present officials of the NDDC.

READ ALSO: Open Letter to Leadership of National Assembly: Leave NDDC Alone

One of such allegations was also made by Mr Akpabio who said “at a management meeting, some management members were paid N49 million each, and a total of N4.2 billion was withdrawn in a single day.”

He said the details of that spending have been submitted to the forensic audit committee.

Also, the acting managing director of the commission, Kemebradikumo Pondei, said it spent N1.32 billion as ‘COVID-19 relief funds’ for staff, not N1.5 billion as earlier reported in the news.

“The amount the IMC used to take care of NDDC staff as COVID-19 palliative was N1.32 billion, not 1.5 billion,” Mr Pondei said when asked if the fund was budgeted for.