ABUJA—The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Failed Rail Contracts, yesterday, unearthed 169 ghost companies that registered as contractors with the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, for projects valued at N1 trillion.

The ad hoc committee raised the alarm during the investigative hearing at the National Assembly, that none of the 169 companies invited by the committee had shown up.

Chairman of the committee, Johnson Agbonnayinman, (Ikpoba/Okha federal constituency), said the need to invite the contractors was important, but lamented that efforts to reach them had so far proven fruitless.

He added that so far, only the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, CCECC, responded to the committee’s letter.

He said: “You are duty bound to produce the contractors. They are nowhere to be found; they are not faceless but yet they cannot be reached.

“You gave them the job, so you should produce them; we are holding you responsible.”

The committee also asked the corporation’s MD, Mr. Adeseyi Sijuwade, to make available the agency’s record of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, between 2010 and 2014, and was also asked to tell the committee what the IGR was used for.

In response, the MD said the IGR was used to augment the agency’s overhead budget.

… as MD denies N2bn pension fund request

Drama, however, started when the committee, acting on documents before it, asked the MD to explain all he knew and reason behind his request to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for a return of N2 billion or 20 percent of the corporation’s pension fund to the corporation in December 2014.

Responding, Sijuwade, who was reminded of being on oath, denied making such request to either the Accountant-General or Minister of Finance.

“I never at any time made any request to the AGF to return N2 billion pension fund to the corporation,” he said.

Insistent on getting to the root of the matter, the committee asked the Director of Finance, Felix Njoku, to take an oath in order to take questions regarding the issue.

Njoku did and insisted that there was never any correspondence from his office to the Accountant-General’s on return of the said money.

Not satisfied, the committee veered into what the organisation did with N2 billion that was in the corporation’s coffers around the period under review.

The Finance Director explained that the money was not related to pension and was used to fund ongoing contracts at the time.

He was asked to list the contracts. He promised to make available the records.

The committee also faulted the award of rail contract to Costain Construction Company, claiming that it had no competence in railway projects.

Sijuwade replied that Costain went through due process and was found competent by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, adding that it successfully completed its project.

Chairman of the committee adjourned the hearing and stressed justice and fairness, stating that the probe was not a witch-hunt.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/reps-uncover-169-ghost-companies-on-n1trn-rail-contracts/

Chaii! My dear country don suffer

Everything went wrong under just 1 term!! I bow for that man oo..

OMG

Everywhere you turn in this nation of ours, you see corruption, you smell fraud, you hear about stolen monies, you feel that some monies have been laundered, and above all you yourself will have a taste of the corrupt process going on in the nooks and crannies in Nigeria whenever you find yourself in public office.

espn:
Everything went wrong under just 1 term!! I bow for that man oo..

That's their HERO - a colossal failure in every facet of governance and probity imaginable! We just squandered the biblical 7yrs of surplus, let's not fault God for the next 7yrs of scarcity (I pray it's a shorter spell though).

The illegality of immorality!
"If we don't kill corruption in this country, corruption will kill this country" - PMB

Jonathan was determined to destroy Nigeria with his avarice and cluelessness.

Thank God for PMB who came to the rescue,

We accept if people claim Jonathan isn't corrupt but who are we to blame for the corruption that took place under his watch? Or we should accept he is just clueness and do not worth to rule a country like Nigeria?

#sayNOtoCorruption

espn:
Everything went wrong under just 1 term!! I bow for that man oo..

lol
You mean the ineffectual buffoon?

He won the award recently

“You gave them the job, so you should produce them; we are holding you responsible.”

That's how it must be. Someone has to be held accountable, just the same way Jonathan must be held accountable for Dasuki's misdeeds.

Can't just imagine some people from certain part of the nation wants us to continue in this monumental jamboree,? Any way they strive better in an illegal environment

This is really cruel.
Really, GEJ messed up. Even if he wasn't aware of the embezzlement, it happened under his watch! How can such funds be zooming away while the country wallowed. And now, we're hit with economic plunge with such funds, well-appropriated, would have helped massively.

He's answerable for this crime. Meanwhile, the current administration should make do with what we have. It is only a man tired of pounding yam that spends time looking for a fowl to chase away

Billions flying everywhere. Haba Jonathan? Yhur clueless behaviour nearly tier naija finish. God dey

A real evil genius doesn't have to show his/her fangs and red eyes anymore for everyone to know he/she is damn evil... All you need to watch out for is a FEDORA HAT and a SHEEPISH SMILE...

espn:
Everything went wrong under just 1 term!! I bow for that man oo..

I shuddered at what would've been our country's fate if this corrupt yam-eating drunkard had gotten a second term!.... financial and economic catastrophe !

We thank God the 'I had no shoes' scammer was rejected

Keeper Buffon