A prosecution witness told the FCT High Court in Gwarinpa, Abuja, on Thursday, that Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) contractors fulfilled all conditions attached to the contracts awarded by former Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige. The former minister is being prosecuted for criminal conducts, including abuse of office and bribes taking stemming from the controversial contracts.
Orwusoro Maduka, a former director of procurement in the Ministry of Labour and Employment (2019–2023), is testifying as the third prosecution witness against Mr Ngige. The former minister faces eight charges, including receiving gratifications from NSITF contractors and giving associates preferential treatment in awarding contracts.
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Mr Maduaka, who earlier concluded his examination-in-chief, commented on the contract award processes and the contractors’ compliance with rules and tax obligations while fielding questions during cross-examination by Mr Ngige’s lawyer, Patrick Ikwueto, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
He said the contractors “had their CAC, tax clearance, and necessary documents to contract for the Federal Government of Nigeria. After evaluating the bids, technical evaluation, Olde English Consolidated Limited was recommended because they had the lowest financial bids.”
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It is too early in the current stage of the trial to determine the impact of the prosecution witness’ remarks on the case brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Although, EFCC raised issues with the award of the contract, some of the charges centre on receiving bribes and other allegations that have little to do with the contracting process.
Even at that, the legitimacy of Mr Ngige awarding NSITF’s contracts has been a recurring decimal in the trial, with Mr Nigige insisting that he obtained a presidential directive to so act. The issue has been a contentious issue in the case with EFCC making efforts to discredit the claim.
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But apart from the procedural issues thrown up in the triwl, the EFCC alleged in the charges that Mr Ngige awarded contracts to several companies and collected gratifications from contractors of the NSITF through “his organisation, called Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige Campaign Organisation, from Cezimo Nigeria Limited (Zenith Bank Account Number 1011901119).”
He allegedly committed the offences while serving as the Minister of Labour and Employment during former President Buhari’s administration.
The former governor of Anambra State and ex-senator denied all the allegations.
Mr Maduka also said, responding to cross-examination questions from the defence lawyer, that there was no external influence on the Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB), of which he was a member, in the evaluation of the bids.
When asked if the contractors did not execute their work, the witness replied that “it was outside my job or purview” to follow up.
Contested presidential directive
Thereafter, Mr Ikwueto asked the witness about a presidential directive to transfer the procurement function from the NSITF to the Ministry of Labour and Employment. But EFCC’s lawyer, Silvannus Tahir, a SAN, objected.
He told the court that Mr Ikwueto had been asking witnesses about the document that he refused to tender as an exhibit so the prosecution can scrutinise it and test its veracity in the course of the trial.
Mr Tahir noted that the previous witness and even Mr Maduka denied seeing the document.
He asked the court to urge Mr Ikwueto to tender it as evidence.
Responding, Mr Ikwueto said he attempted to tender the document, but Mr Tahir had objected because it was not yet certified, and is still in the process of certifying it.
Mr Tahir then asked Mr Ikwueto to provide him with the documents and asked the court to adjourn the trial in order for the defence to provide him with the documents.
Mr Ikuweto agreed to this, and the trial judge, Maryam Hassan, adjourned the matter till 2 July.
The presidential directive has been a bone of contention in previous proceedings.
On Wednesday, Mr Maduka said he never saw the physical copy of a presidential directive on the procurement activities of the NSITF, Mr Ngige.
“There was a presidential order as directed by the minister(Mr Ngige) that the president approved following resolutions of the panel; one of such is that the procurement function of the NSITF be sent to the ministry for proper oversight.”
Despite not seeing it, he justified following the order.
“No, I never saw the directive physically. Although there were correspondences signed by the minister alluding to the directives.”
Similarly, the second prosecution witness, Kelly Nwagha, former Acting Managing Director of the NSITF, who took the witness box earlier in the year, said he was only shown a portion of the directive.
Mr Nwagha said, “Mr Ngige said it was a presidential report; I did not see any reason to doubt him.” But when asked if he would recognise the report, he answered, “I would not recognise it because I did not see the report; he (Mr Ngige) only showed me the copy and withdrew it.”
Backstory
In 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari approved a new NSITF management board, following an audit investigation into violations of the Public Procurement Act and Financial Regulations within the agency.
Mr Maduka was part of the panel that led the investigations. Following the conclusion of the investigations, the panel recommendations were for the procurement functions of the NSITF to be transferred to the ministry for a time.
However, Mr Ngige’s defence team have cited the contested presidential directive to defend his legitimacy to oversee procurement for the NSITF, one of the parastatals supervised by his ministry.
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But the EFCC, through one of its witnesses, cited a letter from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to counter Mr Ngige’s claim and maintained that the BPP had sole legal jurisdiction over NSITF contracts.
The BPP was established with statutory power to regulate and oversee federal public procurement to ensure transparency, competition, and value for money in government contracting.
Yet this stance has been rife with contradictions, with a recent testimony by Mr Maduka.
On Wednesday, he told the court that after Mr Ngige disclosed the directives mandating the ministry to take over procurement functions, a Parastatal Tender Board Committee was formed. One of the members, the witness’s deputy (Joyce), acted as the secretary.
Mr Maduka said the BPP was aware of the arrangement.
The witness explained that the Parastatal Tender Board Committee and BTB carry out procurement independently but work hand in hand. However, the PTB had a threshold it could award contracts and such contracts were forwarded to the ministry for approval.
In addition, the witness testified that the contracts awarded to Shale Atlantic for consultancy services, over N48 million, and N49 million, Stakeholders engagement for safety and health, N40 million, Jeff and Xris N47 million, Zitacom Limited N48 and N49 million, Cezimo N49 million and Olde English Consolidated N49 million, did not exceed PTB’s threshold.
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