NDDC National Assembly Cmtee Chairs Got N2trn Contracts-Ojougboh.

Cairo Ojougboh, Executive Director (Projects) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has said emergency contracts of the commission worth N2 trillion were awarded to the chairmen of the National Assembly committees on the NDDC.

He said the contracts were awarded from 2016 to 2019.

Ojougboh made the revelation while speaking in an interview on Tuesday regarding the ongoing public investigative hearings conducted by both the Senate and House of Representatives over allegations of financial mismanagement by the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC.

Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, had during a session of the hearing on Tuesday stated that most of the contracts in the NDDC are given to National Assembly members, adding that the Senate and House of Representatives committee chairmen both know about the development.

Speaking in an interview with Rowland from  ODOGWU MEDIA,  Ojougboh corroborated Akpabio, saying both Senator Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila, the Senate President and Speaker of the House respectively, are not aware of the activities of their NDDC committees’ chairmen.

He also said majority of the members of the Senate and House committees on NDDC are also unaware of the development, describing the contract awarding process as a “one-man squad”.

According to the NDDC Director, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on NDDC demanded  that 1,000 of the jobs awarded as part of the emergency contracts be awarded to the Senate.

He said the jobs were given to the Senate chairman on behalf of the Senate by one Nelson Agbamuche

He did not, however, disclose if the chairman in question was that of the eighth assembly or the current ninth assembly.

Ojougboh also disclosed that the same chairman asked that the sum of N150 billion be included in the commission’s project for “himself”.

He stated that the Chairman of the House Committee on NDDC also asked that the agency prepare and award a contract for an emergency training programme worth N6.4 billion.

He noted that the programme was included in the 2019 budget, adding that the committee chairman requested that he should be give N3.7 billion for the project.