Senate-: No evidence of approval for 1,691 NDDC contracts

  The Senate Public Accounts Committee yesterday put the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on the spot for allegedly failing to provide evidence of approval for 1,691 contracts.

The Committee said that a total of 1,697 contracts were awarded by the commission between 2014 and 2016.

The Committee said it discovered the absence of the record of the approval of the contracts during vetting of the books of the commission.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Andy Uba, mandated the commission to furnish the committee with evidence of approval of all the contracts and relevant certificate of no objection from Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) within seven days.

Uba said: "This committee and by extension, the Senate is not happy with this vague report before us particularly on contract awards, date of award, level of execution, names of contractors, etc."

The Committee also said the commission ran 22 accounts in different banks before the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

Uba said records show that only four accounts were approved for the commission by the Federal Government.

Describing the 22 bank accounts as "an untidy practice" the committee said that the accounts should be thoroughly investigated.

The committee directed the commission to furnish it with names of the banks to enable its secretariat to request for statement of account between the banks and the commission before the TSA exercise.

The committee also frowned at the commission's huge tax debt profile of N28.7 billion.

NDDC Acting Managing Director, Mrs. Ibim Seminitari explained that the N28.7 billion tax debt profile of the commission emanated from the N23billion she met when she assumed duty and N5.7 billion penalty slammed on it by FIRS.

She further explained that commitment for payment of the debt had been entered into by the two agencies.

The committee also faulted the commission for failure to include income figures in its 2016 report on income and expenditure.

Senator Albert Bassey Akpan, a member of the committee, accused the commission of deliberately omitting the commission's income figures.

The NDDC boss however informed the committee that a total of N23.5billion was given to the commission by the Federal Government.

She added that another N87.1billion proceeds was made from oil companies.

Members of the committee insisted that the omission of the income of the commission was deliberate.

The committee chairman, had in his address alleged that the refusal of the commission to furnish the committee with requested document might be a ploy to hide something.

Uba said, "The Committee as part of its mandate of ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of the Public Accounts of the Federation and on receipt of petitions of corruption on the award of contracts at the commission decided to embark on special oversight on income and expenditure of the commission.

"Sequel to the above, the committee wrote the commission on 23rd and 30th August, 2016 requesting for information on revenue, expenditure and personnel information.

"The commission was to respond within the period of two weeks, but it never responded. The committee wrote a reminder on the 16th September, 2016 and invited the acting managing director to appear before it on 20th September, 2016.

"The commission refused to furnish the committee with the requested information and the managing director did not appear before the Committee.

"The committee again, wrote another reminder to the commission on the submission of the requested information and rescheduled the appearance of the MD to Thursday, 22nd September, 2016.

"The commission formally wrote requesting for a new appointment on 23rd September, 2016. The commission only made submission on the requested information on 13th October, 2016.

"It took the commission more than a month to make its submission.

"Arising from the above, it can be deduced that the commission

"1) Have no regard for the Committee and by extension the Senate.

"2) The commission do not take matters of accountability seriously.

"3) The commission may not have been keeping proper records of its income and expenditure hence the delay in submission.

"4) The commission may have something to hide.

"The sitting today is an opportunity given to the commission to dispel the above views and clarify issues on its income and expenditure."

The Acting MD apologized and blamed the mix up on call of duty that made it impossible for the commission to respond to the committee's demands.

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