Fresh N15bn contract scam in NDDC: Lawyer petitions Buhari, Sen President Lawan, Speaker Gbajabiamila

There appears to be no end to allegations of corruption in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), as a legal practitioner, Godwin Ojeh, raised alarm over alleged N15 billion contract scandal in the commission. Ojeh subsequently petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmed Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, demanding urgent intervention to stop the payment of N15 billion to contractors who are receiving payments for fictitious contracts.

Ojeh decried the perennial misappropriation of funds in the management of the commission.

He declared in his allegation: “The Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission has thrown caution to the winds. It is about to pay for jobs not done.

“The committee is processing the payment of a whooping amount of N15 billion on spurious contracts in the name of “Desilting of Waterways”.

“Is the 2020 budget of the commission ready? Where are they spending from?

“Recently, the Senate set up an ad hoc committee to probe the Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over alleged mismanagement of N40 billion. The Senate also requested for 2019 budgetary performance. The commission does not have power to expend public money without a budget. There is no budgetary provision.”

The legal practitioner, therefore, demanded the President and the National Assembly and the executive to stop the commission from wasting the country’s resources.

Ojeh in a statement in Benin City, Edo State, protested that the intention of the NDDC Interim Management Committee is “a move that will endanger development of the region.” He maintained that “There is no greater danger to the development of the Niger Delta region than the payments for fictitious contracts.”

The legal practitioner advocated the essence of transparency in government organizations, reiterating his demand for the invention of President Buhari and the National Assembly to ensure probity in NDDC. According to him, “it is necessary for the National Assembly and the executive arm of government to adopt a collective position on the allegation of corruption in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).”