Senator Anyim And Emeka Eze Indicted In N300Billion NDDC Projects Fraud

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim and the Director General of the Bureau for Public Procurement, BPP, Mr. Emeka Eze have been indicted in a Niger Delta Development Commisssion (NDDC) fraud up to the tune of N300 billion..

They were alleged to have been awarded three mega projects for the development of the oil producing regions. According to a petition before President Goodluck Jonathan, jointly signed by Mr. Evwierhuroma Aggbagoro and Unyime Enang both of
the Niger Delta Contractors Coalition, it is indicated that as part of the deal, the BPP DG with the knowledge and approval of the SGF, gave a waiver to the current board of the NDDC to award 22 mega projects worth over N90 billion and emergency projects worth over N240 billion.

Acoording to a Petition before President Goodluck Jonathan and jointly signed by Mr. Evwierhuroma Aggbagoro and Unyime Enang both of
the Niger Delta Contractors Coalition said as part of the deal, the BPP DG with the  knowledge and approval of the SGF, gave a waiver to the current board of the NDDC to award 22 mega projects worth over N90 billion and emergency projects worth over N240 billion.

The petition stressed “There are no detailed or final engineering design drawings or estimates for all the  projects in question. Tenders had been issued out before consultants were  precipitously called to prepare quasi-Bills of Quantities and BEMEs without  engineering drawings and because the agencies of the Presidency that is supposed  to regulate and check these excesses have been compromised, they unduly  approved of it. This is outrageous, wasteful, and fraudulent and must be stopped  immediately,”.

Anyim and Eze were also alleged to have increased the approval limit of the board of NDDC  from N250 million to N1billion. The petition also accused the NDDC board of using  cronies to defraud the agency of billions through phony contract awards especially  awarding contracts for clearing of Water Hyacinth in the over 500 creeks of the  Niger Delta.

The 500 creeks are all salt water and hyacinth does not grow on salt water. The  petition noted with dismay why the current board has not been different from the  ousted ones “from inception in 2001 to April 2009, the NDDC awarded about 5,100  projects. Of these, less than 1,550 have been completed.

Over 2,982 projects have been abandoned for lack of budgetary provision and about 300 already awarded projects completely removed from the budget. It also stated  that “between 2009 and October 2011, the commission awarded 950 projects, most  of them still on-going.

The petition disclosed that while N158 billion NDDC funds are with various banks,  “As at today, the total budget cost for all the commission’s projects stand at N1,  802,432,439,448.263.

“The NDDC has so far made commitments of N237, 642,639,591 and the total  amount approved for the 2011 budget is N243, 637,703,714.00. Under this board,  personnel expenditure increased by over 40% from N5,992,705,878.00 to N9, 485,694,844.

“It is unexplainable that in just four months, the new board has awarded 600 small ticket projects of values between N50m – N250m worth over
N90 billion and 80 mega projects worth about N240 billion. This brings the total  project amount awarded to N330 billion.

“All these awards grossly fell short of the requirements of Public  Procurement Acts of 2007.”

The petitioners listed their prayers as:  That all emergency projects awarded between January 2012 and April 2012  be halted and investigated by Orosanye Panel, not the BPP or SGF’s office-as  these offices have been badly compromised on NDDC matters. The following should be scrutinized:  i.)Methods of award of the contracts. ii) Conditions under which  they were awarded and compliance to the aforementioned sections of the  Procurement Act and capacity/profile of the chosen contractors.

That the commission’s transactions and projects awards be thoroughly  audited by a responsible auditing firm.

That the dubious methods of issuing all three tenders for a contract to a  single favored or chosen contractor by the board, instead of encouraging competitive  bidding be investigated and penalized.

Every responsible project manager in Niger Delta knows that the best time to pay contractors is just before rainy season. Over 400 contractors and 900 APG  payments have deliberately been stalled. Mr. President is urgently requested to  reverse this trend or risk imminent collapse of the commission.

That the board should be directed to award projects based on strategic need  prescribed through the recommendations of the Niger Delta Master Plan, and not by  mere political patronage.