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SGF, Ayim, Eze Named In a N300 Billion NDDC Contract Scandal
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Chief Ayim Pius Ayim, SGF & EmekaEze, BPP DG
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ayim Pius Ayim and the Director General of the Bureau for Public Procurement, BPP, Mr. EmekaEze have both allegedly benefitted from a N300 Billion contract scandal currently rocking the Niger Delta Development Corporation, NDDC.
A petition before President Goodluck Jonathan made available to Pointblanknews.com accused Ayim and Eze of benefitting from two and three mega projects at the NDDC worth Billions of Naira to give cover to “the monumental fraud in the intervention agency.”
The petition jointly signed by EvwierhurhomaAgbagoro and UnyimeEnang 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.
“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 regulate and check these excesses have been compromised, they unduly approved of it. This is outrageous, wasteful, and fraudulent and must be stopped immediately,” the petition said.
They also accused the duo of increasing 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 agencies of Billions through phony contract awards especially by awarding contracts for the 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 slat water.
Efforts to reach the Managing Director Dr. Chris Oboh proved abortive. His Media Aide, one HonourSirawoo, instead of responding to enquiries asked, “are you in PH, thought you are in Port Harcourt.” The office of the SGF and the BPP did not return calls.
The petition noted with dismay that while the current board has not been different from the ousted corrupt 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 about 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 budgeted cost for all the commission’s projects stand at N 1,802,432,439,4482.63. The NDDC has so far made commitments of N 237,642,639,591 and the total amount approved for the 2011 budget is N 243,637,703,714.00. Under this board personnel expenditure increased by over 40% from N 5,882,705,878.00 to N9,485,694, 844.”
According to the Petition, “It is unexplainable that in just four months, the new board has awarded 600 small ticket projects of values between 50m-250m worth over N90billion and 80 mega projects worth about N240 billion. This brings the total project amount awarded to N330 billion.”
The petition noted, “All these awards grossly fell short of the requirements of the Public Procurement Act of 2007.”
The petitioners listed their prayers to include:
1. That all emergency projects awarded between January 2012 and April 2012 be stayed and investigated by the 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.) method of award of the contracts ii>) conditions under which they were awarded and compliance to the aforementioned sections of the procurement act and capacity/profiles of the chosen contractors.
2. That the commission’s transactions and projects awards be thoroughly audited by a responsible auditing firm.
3. That the dubious method of issuing all three tenders for a contract to a single favoured or chosen contractor by the board, instead of encouraging competitive bidding be investigated and penalized.
4. Every responsible project manager in the Niger Delta knows that the best time to pay contractors is just before the rainy season. Over 400 contractors and 900 APG payments have deliberately been stalled. Mr. President is urgently requested to reverse this trend or risk the imminent collapse of the commission.
5. That the board should be directed to award projects based on strategic need as prescribed through the recommendations of the Niger Delta Master Plan, and not by mere political patronage
A petition before President Goodluck Jonathan made available to Pointblanknews.com accused Ayim and Eze of benefitting from two and three mega projects at the NDDC worth Billions of Naira to give cover to “the monumental fraud in the intervention agency.”
The petition jointly signed by EvwierhurhomaAgbagoro and UnyimeEnang 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.
“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 regulate and check these excesses have been compromised, they unduly approved of it. This is outrageous, wasteful, and fraudulent and must be stopped immediately,” the petition said.
They also accused the duo of increasing 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 agencies of Billions through phony contract awards especially by awarding contracts for the 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 slat water.
Efforts to reach the Managing Director Dr. Chris Oboh proved abortive. His Media Aide, one HonourSirawoo, instead of responding to enquiries asked, “are you in PH, thought you are in Port Harcourt.” The office of the SGF and the BPP did not return calls.
The petition noted with dismay that while the current board has not been different from the ousted corrupt 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 about 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 budgeted cost for all the commission’s projects stand at N 1,802,432,439,4482.63. The NDDC has so far made commitments of N 237,642,639,591 and the total amount approved for the 2011 budget is N 243,637,703,714.00. Under this board personnel expenditure increased by over 40% from N 5,882,705,878.00 to N9,485,694, 844.”
According to the Petition, “It is unexplainable that in just four months, the new board has awarded 600 small ticket projects of values between 50m-250m worth over N90billion and 80 mega projects worth about N240 billion. This brings the total project amount awarded to N330 billion.”
The petition noted, “All these awards grossly fell short of the requirements of the Public Procurement Act of 2007.”
The petitioners listed their prayers to include:
1. That all emergency projects awarded between January 2012 and April 2012 be stayed and investigated by the 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.) method of award of the contracts ii>) conditions under which they were awarded and compliance to the aforementioned sections of the procurement act and capacity/profiles of the chosen contractors.
2. That the commission’s transactions and projects awards be thoroughly audited by a responsible auditing firm.
3. That the dubious method of issuing all three tenders for a contract to a single favoured or chosen contractor by the board, instead of encouraging competitive bidding be investigated and penalized.
4. Every responsible project manager in the Niger Delta knows that the best time to pay contractors is just before the rainy season. Over 400 contractors and 900 APG payments have deliberately been stalled. Mr. President is urgently requested to reverse this trend or risk the imminent collapse of the commission.
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