The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has said most of the contracts of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) are given out to members of the National Assembly.
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 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: No 40 Billion Is Missing In NDDC – Akpabio
One of such allegations was also made by Mr Akpabio saying
At a management meeting, some management members were paid N49 million each, and a total of N4.2 billion was withdrawn in a single day.
According to him, 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.
When asked if the fund was budgeted for, Pondei said:
The amount the IMC used to take care of NDDC staff as COVID-19 palliative was N1.32 billion, not 1.5 billion.
Recall that the Acting MD, Pondei, had accused the Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on the NDDC, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, of corruption, saying that the lawmaker benefitted from the contracts in the NDDC.
Tunji Ojo, earlier on Monday stepped aside as the head of the panel investigating the alleged financial recklessness in the NDDC.
See video below:
The moment Akpabio dropped the bomb that most of the contracts of the NDDC are given to members of the National Assembly.
Next thing is :It's Okay, Honorable Minister
They are all the same; birds of a feather flocks together!
All Thieves!#NDDCProbe.
pic.twitter.com/NcfvuhIn7X— Tosin Olugbenga (@TosinOlugbenga) July 20, 2020
