•Unregistered firms grabbed 400 deals in three days

•Commission: Report is false

OFFICIALS of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) have begun a probe into alleged shady multi-billion naira contract deals at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) headquarters in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The anti-corruption agents are trying to figure out why and how over 400

contracts were awarded within three days and some of the jobs were given to 26 companies with no fixed addresses.

The probe began barely three weeks after the Chief Isaac Jemide-led Presidential Monitoring Committee on the NDDC concluded its sitting over the circumstances surrounding the squabble among members of the board of the commission.

Even as the committee’s findings were yet-to-be made public, state governors in the Niger Delta region met in Port Harcourt, and ordered a revocation of all the contracts awarded by the management of the agency, including those endorsed by the Managing Director, Mr. Chibuzo Ugwuoha, and other executive directors, which had been a subject of controversy.

Before the governors’ directive, however, the NDDC board had met on the issue and revoked over 400 contracts running into billions of naira alleged to have been single-handedly awarded by Ugwoha.

Shortly thereafter, the Chairman of the Board, Air Vice-Marshall Larry Koinyan (rtd), sent a petition to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the

Federation (SGF), urging the Presidency to intervene and call Ugwuoha to order.

But, feelers from the ICPC indicate that an interesting phase may soon unfold at the NDDC and heads may roll at the end of investigations prompted by a petition written to the anti-graft agency by a rights activist and Grand Patron of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Prince Collins Eselemo.

In the petition dated June 9, this year, and addressed to the ICPC Chairman, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola (rtd), Eselemo attached a list of contracts running into billions of naira, which he alleged were awarded without any iota of compliance with existing government laws and regulations on due process.

“The particulars and details of the unlawful award of contracts are found in Annexure A hereof. The managing director of the NDDC at different times in March 2010, in clear violation of the Public Procurement Act and the NDDC Authorisation Manual Section 500 did engage in a plethora of corrupt practices to wit – brazen award of government contracts all issued in contravention of tender procedures,” says the petition.

Consequently, Ugwoha and two other directors of the commission were summoned to report at the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Abuja on July 6, to be grilled by a team of detectives assigned to investigate the alleged sleazy contracts.

But, they did not report until August 18, when the managing director was quizzed for about eight hours.

He arrived at the ICPC headquarters, Abuja, about 10.30 a.m.

Contacted yesterday for comments on the issue, the commission’s spokesman, Mr. Folu Olamiti, confirmed the report.

He said: “We have an on-going case. We’re doing a painstaking investigation, and

we had invited the accused persons. The next stage is for the investigators to write a report that will be forwarded to the ICPC chairman.”

The Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Mike Sowe, had earlier confirmed that the commission was in receipt of the petition, but was not categorical on the present stage of investigations.

“Yes, I am aware of the petition and it is undergoing the necessary processes.

But I cannot say how far the processes have gone,” he said.

Further checks, however, revealed that investigators might have unearthed a can of worms going by available pieces of documented evidence, including letters of award of multi-billion naira contracts personally signed by the NDDC helmsman to allegedly unregistered companies, and results of company validity searches at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) by Eric Apia & Co., an Abuja-based firm of legal practitioners, property consultants and Notary Public.

For instance, Ugwuoha had on March 26, this year, awarded a contract valued at N101,026,440 million to a company – Reimiport & Co. Limited for the installation of solar street lamp at Ozoro, Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State.

The letter of award personally signed by Ugwuoha, and marked NDDC/HQ/MD.18/DTS/06, was addressed to the managing director of the company, but routed through “c/o NDDC office, Warri, Delta State”.

Perhaps, the absence of an identifiable office address of the company may have fuelled suspicion and subsequent searches at the CAC, which report indicated that the name, Reimiport & Co. Limited, had not been registered with it as a company.

The commission further went ahead to approve a request by the applicants to reserve the name till July 10, 2010.

The availability search printed report reads in part: “The CAC is pleased to inform you that one of your requested names has been approved and will be reserved for 60 days.”

The request was made in May and endorsed at the CAC by one Joel Awoke.

Earlier in the same month, precisely on March 16, the NDDC boss was said to have personally signed a letter of award of contract, valued at N53,065,169 million, to a company – Nemberek Industry Limited - supposedly based at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, for solar water project at Isi Otoyo, in Eastern Obolo Local Government Area.

As in the case of Reimiport, the letter of award marked NDDC/HQ/MD.18/AKS.8, was addressed to the managing director of the company “c/o NDDC office, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State”.

Again, CAC search results also cast a slur on the status of the company.

In response to an application for availability of the company name for registration submitted in May, 2010, the commission in a report says: “The CAC is pleased to inform you that one of your requested companies has been approved and will be reserved for 60 days.”

The report with Nemberek Industry Limited as the approved name was endorsed by one Samuel Iyapo, and had been reserved for registration by the applicant till July 10, this year.

Similarly, four other companies awarded contracts by Ugwuoha running into millions of naira were allegedly found to be unregistered at the CAC.

Besides, between March and early April, this year, the NDDC chief allegedly embarked on a contract bazaar, awarding 61 jobs at the first instance, and over 350, thereafter within three days, which ran into billions of naira.

Of the 61 contracts awarded, 26 were given to companies with no fixed addresses.

And out of the 26, 24 went to contractors supposedly based in Rivers, Ogwuoha’s state of origin, while the other two with no addresses were awarded to companies in Imo State.

He has, however, been ordered to revoke all the contracts, including several others awarded by executive directors of the commission.

Although there had been no love lost among members of the commission’s board, particularly between the managing director and the Executive Director, Projects (EDP), Mr. Esoetok Etteh, since it was inaugurated about 11 months ago, Ugwuoha’s decision to personally sign letters of award for the 61 contracts was said to have angered Etteh, who fired the first salvo openly, via a petition to the office of the SGF.

In the petition dated March 31, this year, the EDP alleged that the NDDC boss unilaterally awarded 61 projects to his cronies and associates without authorisation of the approving bodies and against the commission’s standing financial regulations.

He further alleged that Ugwuoha usurped his powers to initiate and sign letters of award of contracts.

Citing Section 560 sub-section F (IV) of the NDDC Amended Authorisation Manual (2002), Etteh claimed exclusive authority to issue and sign letters for award of contracts.

Under Procedure for Award, sub-section F (I) of the NDDC Amended Authorisation

Manual, it is stated that “all contracts by the Commission should evolve from the Tenders and Procurement process as approved in the authorisation limits by the Board, and in line with due process”.

Sub-section F (IV) further stipulatesthat “the Executive Director, Projects, issues letters of awards and endorses the copy of BOQ/BEME to the contractor”.

Etteh insisted that the managing director’s resolve to sign letters of award amounted to a serious breach of his designated functions.

Another source of friction between Etteh and Ugwuoha is the CEO’s directive to suspend action on some contracts, which were allegedly awarded to some key repentant militant leaders by the EDP in December, last year, which Ugwuoha considered as not captured in the budgetary provisions for the year, and done without following due process.

But, sources close to the commission hinted that the managing director decided to personally sign the contentious letters of award, when earlier attempts at making the EDP to allow the letters pass through the proper channels failed.

He was allegedly enraged, on discovering that the EDP had unilaterally awarded 44 contracts without his knowledge, out of which three were said to have been awarded to Etteh & Partners, a Warri-based company suspected to be owned by his brother, where he (EDP), was also a staff member.

While the cold war lasted, before it eventually snowballed into an open confrontation, the NDDC boss had reportedly been taken to several top level official quarters, including the Presidency, on the issue of authority to sign letters of contract award, but had consistently insisted that as the MD/CEO, he is the accounting officer and the buck stops on his table.

Ugwuoha, sources said, derived his strength and conviction from the superiority of the Public Procurement Act 2007 over the Amended NDDC Authorisation Manual (2002), contending that while the former is a statutory creation, the later is a mere manual, lacking the force of law initiated by the NDDC Board for the smooth running of the agency in the absence of well defined procurement regulations.

He is said to have hinged his resolve on the provisions of Section 20, sub-sections 1 and 2 (a-e) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, which vested powers of procurement and supervision on the accounting officer of a ministry or agency.

Specifically, Section 20 (2) states that “the accounting officer of every procuring entity shall have overall responsibility for the planning, organisation of tenders, evaluation of tenders, and execution of all procurements; and in particular, shall be responsible for (a) : ensuring compliance with the provisions of this Act by his entity and liable in person for the breach or contravention of this Act or any regulation made hereunder whether or not the act or omission was carried out by him personally or any of his subordinates; and it shall not be material that he had delegated any function, duty or power to any person or group of persons”.

Meanwhile, the battle of wits over authority for initiation and signing of contract letters has been rendered irrelevant, as the ICPC progresses in its probe into the alleged contract scam.

Though President Goodluck Jonathan appeared to have been in a fix, and opted to watch as the NDDC drama played out, there are strong indications that buoyed by pressures from the international community and ex-militant leaders on the need to instill sanity at the commission and checkmate a re-occurrence of violence in the volatile oil-rich region, the Presidency may soon wield the big stick.

But, rather than having a clean sweep of the board, Jonathan is said to be considering the sack of two key members of the management believed to be fuelling the crises at the NDDC.

Long before the ICPC investigations, several concerned groups in the Niger Delta had petitioned the Presidency over developments at the commission. There was, however, no response from the authorities until April 16, this year, when some repentant militant leaders, under the aegis of the Niger Delta ex-Militants Forum, dispatched a strongly-worded two-page letter to ambassadors of 14 major foreign embassies in Nigeria, in which they warned that another orgy of violence was looming in the Niger Delta, if the Federal Government failed to take drastic steps to curtail the excesses of the NDDC managing director.

The letter reads in part: “We are writing to intimate you on this development and its security implications, and to also solicit your urgent intervention by calling on the Presidency and the Federal Government of Nigeria to act now.”

It was addressed to the Ambassadors of Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Canada, Britain, Italy, France, USA, Switzerland, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, the European Commission, and the Embassy of the Holy Sea (Apostolic Nunclature).

Before the diplomatic initiative, the ex-militants had written to Jonathan, urging him to order an investigation into the management of the NDDC.

The Nigerian Compass gathered that on receipt of the complaint from the ex-militants, some of the ambassadors contacted their home governments and prevailed on the Presidency to act on the issue, prompting Jonathan’s directive to the Presidential Monitoring Committee on the NDDC to probe the activities of the management of the agency.

It was barely two weeks after the committee concluded its assignment that the ICPC launched its investigations based on Eselemo’s petition.

While speaking on the recent developments at the NDDC, Special Assistant to the Managing Director on Media Affairs, Mr. Abraham Ogbodo, dismissed as false and unfounded, reports of procedural irregularities allegedly committed by Ugwuoha in respect of contract awards.

He said that all was well at the agency, adding that reports of cracks and in-fighting among the top hierarchy were the creations of opportunists and mischief-makers who did not wish the Niger Delta people well.

He also gave assurance that the present management of the commission is poised to ensure that the post-amnesty programmes put in place by the Federal Government achieve the desired result.

Ogbodo, however, declined comments on the ongoing ICPC probe, saying he was not aware of any invitation of his boss by the anti-graft agency, and was not in a position to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, President-General of the Niger Delta Restoration Initiative (NDRI), Mr. Pupagha Ekpedekumor, has said that his group would not hesitate to mobilise youths in the Niger Delta for “spontaneous protests”, if the Federal Government did not take appropriate and positive action on the NDDC within the shortest possible time.

He also warned the ICPC to ensure that in the course of its investigations, nothing is swept under the carpet.

“We are waiting to see the outcome of the probe and how the presidency will handle the issue. We are ready to create discomfort for them if things are not done properly,” he added.

The contract mess was said to have spurred several other concerned groups and individuals in the Niger Delta with a resolve to cleanse the rot at the regional interventionist agency, by providing useful documentary evidence to the investigators.



http://www.compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66564:nddc-in-multi-billion-naira-contract-scam&catid=672:top-stories&Itemid=794

It's about time NDDC has its books audited.
Ever since Ugwuoha got in there,it's been one scandal after the other.
Shame.

I dont no y MEND,MASSOB is disturbing the pipeline everytime instead of bursting the ass of dis NDDC official they are the one that they need to kidnapped and not oil workers.It has been made known now that the federal government truely approved money for ur people but w can all see where the money is helding to get dis people and deals with them accordingly

But why should an Ugwuoha be heading NDDC? Does his village produce oil?

Where is he from?

So you want to hear from my mouth that Chibuzo Ugwuoha is not from here or there?

Ugwuoha as NDDC chairman is a by-product of political horse-trading.No need to go into all the details.He is an Ikwerre by tribe.
I'm not one for where one comes from,but let the best person,regardless of where he/she is from,head posts like these.
Ugwuoha is said to be from an oil company,but from the evidence of how NDDC has been run so far,he must not be better than a village farmer.
All of a sudden,NDDC has turned from providing ammenities to the Niger Delta region to a place where all manner of contracts are awarded.

Na today ? Is this not the same NDDC where  former chairman Sam Edem spent over #600 million on JUJU ? NDDC has always been a commission of corruption.

*********nothing new here*************

*************moves on***************

It's nothing new , i'm pretty sure they do worst than this. I wish d militants will just go after the right pipo, Late president Yar'adua meant well for d n/delta n those fools in d NDDC n d so called elders of that reigon keep drawing them back. It's very sad

na today?

Hamid O:

It's nothing new , i'm pretty sure they do worst than this. I wish d militants will just go after the right pipo, Late president Yar'adua meant well for d n/delta n those fools in d NDDC n d so called elders of that reigon keep drawing them back. It's very sad

You must be very daft. Where have the petitions come from? Is it from the North or where? Take time to read the article before opening your dirty mouth.
Do people from your area not steal oil money or do they have another place they steal money from that isn't linked to oil? I can't understand why instead of facing the problem, some tribalistic low lifes would instead, blame the victim. What an annoying brainless fool!

@topic
I strongly recommend exemplary jail terms for Ugwuoha and anybody else like him. Send them to Gashua or somewhere their families will never know about. Bastar'ds.

I thought he is from Imo State. I have never heard anything good about this fela since he became NDDC boss. It`s so disgracing.

If we had practrised true federalism and govt had fulfilled its role as the provider of infrastructure why is there a need for the NDDC, a needless drainpipe for the resources of this country, much like several other agencies.

ur right babosa, [img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=FFFFFF/txt=FFFFFF/border=FFFFFF/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

Ournaija:

I thought he is from Imo State. I have never heard anything good about this fela since he became NDDC boss. It`s so disgracing.

He(ugwoha) is from omoku in rivers state. he got into NDDC through his god father G.U. AKE, PDP's south south national vice chairman. chibuzo ugwoha has always been a controversal fellow. he last worked with ELF before joining NDDC.

Same old story all the f.uc.k.ing time! !
The problem with nigeria is NIGERIANS.
So why cant the militants shoot ugwuoha or is it ugwuanuofia.
Dont be surprised that some head militants are on their payrole hence the ghost contracts.
As a result. . . . the familiar cycle repeats itself.
TUFIAKWA! !

otokx:

But why should an Ugwuoha be heading NDDC? Does his village produce oil?

otokx:

So you want to hear from my mouth that Chibuzo Ugwuoha is not from here or there?

Are you happy now that he is from Ikwerre or Rivers?

So you thought this 'igbos' self abi?Thankgod he is your fellow ikwerre man.

I dont care where he's from.
If he likes he can come from my kindred in the village.
if he is corrupt as the news item portrays then the militants should shoot him up.
The cleansing can start from there.

he's from here, he's from there and the rubbish continues.
haba! ! !

hackney:

I dont care where he's from.
If he likes he can come from my kindred in the village.
if he is corrupt as the news item portrays then the militants should shoot him up.
The cleansing can start from there.

he's from here, he's from there and the rubbish continues.
haba! ! !

seconded

Thank God the north is not blamed on this.

13volts said:

Thank God the north is not blamed on this.

lol

kidnappers new job you until they create jobs

It is high time to rise and disturb all these our leaders in fact nobody to be trusted again we are at war and every sector in nigeria and look at this Nddc stuff that am praising before they will surely pay for it. may God deliver us in country kai obitibiti owo

Like @ Porter agrees, the only thing man has learned from history is that they have learned nothing from history. Consequently greed would kill Nigeria and the Niger Delta. Gbam.

otokx:

But why should an Ugwuoha be heading NDDC? Does his village produce oil?

Such arrant display of ignorance, warped IQ and unreasonable hatred ! It's probably ok to embezzle NDDC money with a different name that sounds right to you

The Executive Director of Projects Mr. E Eseotok petitioned Ugwuoha to the Presidency on two occasions and the issue was brought up at a House of Reps seating only for one member to interject that "If a CEO cannot unilateraly sign cheques without recourse to due process, who can?" Jonathan let is slide and so the the House, all this talk about probes and investigations, let ius hope this time ICPC has sharp replacement teeth to bite culprits unlike their dull gums of decades ago

So the guy is from OMOKU, then he should be made to face the music immediately.

FACE:

Such arrant display of ignorance, warped IQ and unreasonable hatred ! It's probably ok to embezzle NDDC money with a different name that sounds right to you

Thank you. These wannabe Niger Delta people have a way of passing the blame for their misfortune to the Igbos. I won't be shocked if a few of their block heads decide to see GJ as an Igbo man going by the fact that his middle name is "Ebele" .

@otokx::you and your people might have to look inward to pass the blame this time.

Just for the records Mr. Chibuzo Ugwuoha is from Erema Town in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State (read Rivers not Imo ).

The ONELGA people speak Ibo and bear Ibo names but claim to be of Benin origin (that shows the typical hatred these people have for Igbos).

Anyways and going by these and other antecedents we have no reason to believe they're Igbo in anyway.

Obijulius:

Thank you. These wannabe Niger Delta people have a way of passing the blame for their misfortune to the Igbos. I won't be shocked if a few of their block heads decide to see GJ as an Igbo man going by the fact that his middle name is "Ebele" .

@otokx::you and your people might have to look inward to pass the blame this time.

Just for the records Mr. Chibuzo Ugwuoha is from Erema Town in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State (read Rivers not Imo ).

The ONELGA people speak Ibo and bear Ibo names but claim to be of Benin origin (that shows the typical hatred these people have for Igbos).

Anyways and going by these and other antecedents we have no reason to believe they're Igbo in anyway.

guy even if he chibuzor ugwuoha is igbo from imo what is wrong with that? Imo and Abia are part of the Niger Delta and hence part of NDDC, NDDC is comprised of Abia, Imo, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Ondo states, so anybody from one of these states can rightly head NDDC