Two South-South Legislators In NDDC Contract Scandal

A coalition of civil society groups on Friday in Abuja gave a graphic detail concerning the alleged involvement of two ranking legislators from the South South geopolitical zone, James Manager and Nicholas Mutu, in contract scam with officials of the Niger Delta Development Commission.

The organisation which likened the juicy chairmanship positions held by the two legislators to an  exchanged of bribery and corruption between the leadership of both the Senate and House of Representatives, said it was high time all anti-graft agencies in the country swung into action to thoroughly probe the activities of the NDDC and all contracts awarded by the commission in the past five (5) years or more.

President of the coalition, Mr. Bassey Etuk and Secretary, Abubakar Ahmed, at a press briefing alleged that over 67 dubious contracts awarded by the NDDC within the last five years have not been fully executed while the legislators have continued to feign ignorance because they believed  that they were untouchable in the eyes of the law.

Etuk said: “As we all know, the country is in a thorough renaissance in the light and spirit of the anti-corruption wind that is blowing across the length and breath of Nigeria. It is in the same spirit of the anti-corruption campaign that we are bent to unravel the corruption misery in NDDC in collaboration with some criminally minded Legislators in the National Assembly.

“Our findings reveals that the commission is riddled with different facts of corrupt practices ranging from ‎outrageous inflated contracts, ‎contracts splitting‎, non inspection of contracts for which payments have either been fully made or substantial percentage of the contracts sums released.

‎”We in the civil world are strongly calling on all anti-graft agencies to thoroughly and urgently probe the activities of the Commission and all contracts awarded by the commission in the past five (5) years or more.

‎”It is on record that the Auditor-General of the Federation had open the surface of the huge corrupt practices going on in NDDC via the 2013 Audit Report. The over ten years legislators in the National Assembly have turned themselves into legislative contractors because of the volume of contracts given to them by NDDC collocated with unregistered companies to execute the Jobs”.

He also took a swipe on the NDDC and alleged corruption within the system, saying it was unfortunate that billions could be stolen in the name of contracts while the Niger Delta as a region remained grossly under-developed in the face of billions allocated to the commission.”

Etuk listed 67 various corruption cases ravaging NDDC, including the construction of rigid pavement at Odorobu/Adobu road (phase 2) in Patani LGA of Delta State awarded to Arc. Marine  & Civil Contractors.

‎While the construction of internal concrete pavement at Akugbene phase 2 at Bomadi LGA of Delta State was awarded to Complete Unit Ltd‎ at the sum of N246,048,000.00‎, construction of Akugbene Esama Ogbein awarded to Messrs Deastern Elect & Mech Service Ltd was awarded the sum of N2,449,894,075.41‎.

Etuk revealed that the findings of the group also showed that some companies are used by the management of the commission to siphon money released by the Federal Government to NDDC, without the jobs awarded being done but money paid through the company’s bank account numbers.

NB: Full text of press conference below…

BEING A PRESS CONFERENCE TEXT ADDRESSED BY THE COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25 2015 IN ABUJA

Gentlemen of the press,

Dear colleagues, in the civil society,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As we all know, the country is in a thorough renaissance in the light and spirit of the anti-corruption wind that is blowing across the length and breath of Nigeria. It is in the same spirit of the anti-corruption campaign that we are bent to unravel the corruption misery in NDDC in collaboration with some criminally minded Legislators in the National Assembly.

Our findings reveals that the Commission is riddled with different facts of corrupt practices ranging from

We in the civil world are strongly calling on all anti-graft agencies to thoroughly and urgently probe the activities of the Commission and all contracts awarded by the commission in the past five (5) years or more.

It is on record that the Auditor-General of the Federation had open the surface of the huge corrupt practices going on in NDDC via the 2013 Audit Report.

The Coalition of Civil Society Groups with over 200 membership strength has it on good authority that NDDC in connivance with some highly placed legislators are using their offices in the National Assembly to indulged in criminal activities via contracts scam. The over ten years Legislators in the National Assembly have turned themselves into legislative contractors because of the volume of contracts giving to them by NDDC collocated with unregistered companies to execute the Jobs. In some cases, the contracts awarded to them are not fully executed because they believe  that they are untouchable in the face of law. please note that sixty- seven contracts were giving to the legislators in the space of two years. some of the contracts are as follows

The money released are in billions and we are shocked that people making laws could soiled their hands in criminal activities.

It has become very necessary for us to bring these corruption cases to the notice of the public because we aware that some people whose corrupt activities should be under close scrutiny of the anti-corruption agencies  are still going about boasting with an impression that they are above the law. The legislators involved are Senator James Manager and Hon Nicholas Mutu. These shameless and lawless legislators have been adjudged in the court of public opinion has the least ranked legislators in Nigeria. The civil society independent evaluation performance report 2013/2014 also corroborate the views of Nigerians because their low performance in office is a pointer to their inability to drive home legislative gains to their various constituencies.

The Juicy chairmanship positions held by these two legislators could be likened to an  exchanged of bribery and corruption between the leadership of both the Senate and House of Reps.

The many questions we need to ask them are…

On the other hand the NDDC is also regarded as a pool of corruption. it is unfortunate that billions could be stolen in the name of contracts while the niger delta as a region is grossly under developed in the face of billions allocated to the commission. The under listed are various corruption cases ravaging NDDC

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION.

Etuk Bassey ​​​​​​​​Abubakar Ahmed

President    ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Secretary