03media

The last has not been heard regarding the faceoff between the House of Representatives and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.   In a statement released by its spokesperson, Benjamin Kalu on Tuesday, July 28, the House is insisting that the Minister must publish the names of the lawmakers that have been awarded. The House in the statement said the minister failed to substantiate the allegation that national assembly members get most of the NDDC contracts.    While appearing before a panel probing the alleged mismanagement of N81.5 billion by the interim management committee (IMC) of the NDDC, Akpabio had said federal lawmakers were the biggest beneficiaries of the contracts awarded by the commission.   Subsequently, the speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, gave the minister a 48-hour ultimatum to publish the names of the legislators who got those contracts or face legal action. Akpabio in a resp...

Senator James Manager representing Delta South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has denied claims he benefitted from NDDC contracts during and after his time as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs.   The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, had in a letter addressed to Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, which was leaked to newsmen by a youth group in Abuja on Sunday, July 26, named Manager as one of the lawmakers who got six NDDC contracts. The Executive Director Projects of the agency, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, had accused the Senator of getting contracts from the Commission.   However, in a statement released today July 27, Manager denied the claim and has threatened to take legal action.   His statement below... “I sincerely wish to react as follows: That my tenure as chairman of Niger Delta Committee in the Senate effectively ended in 2015. That ever since then I have never visited NDDC headquarters...

\ Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Force, says the alleged mismanagement of N81 billion by the interim management committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is like pickpocketing compared to other alleged stolen public funds in Nigeria. The national assembly is currently investigating the alleged mismanagement of the funds by the IMC. President Muhammadu Buhari had order a forensic audit of the commission’s activities from 2001 to 2019. But the IMC, which was set up to manage the NDDC pro tem and to supervise the audit, has come under allegations of corruption. Commenting on the saga in a video, Dokubo said the N81 billion in question is nothing compared to other funds he claimed were looted in Nigeria. He said the case is like that of a man calling the police to report a pickpocketing case he witnessed while armed robbers are breaking into his house. “We are talking about N81 billion being pick-pocketed from Niger Delta while the bulk of ...

The total cost which approximately sums up to N2.3billion have gathered a lot of reactions from Nigerians. Revelations have started to emerge following the Federal Government approval of forensic auditing of the financial records and contracts executed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over the years. There has been a public outcry for the government to carry out an investigation into the awards of contract and the activities of those responsible in handling the affair of the agency. Since the creation of the Niger Delta commission in 2000, there have been no auditing of the financial records of the government agency. On Monday, the House began its investigation and probe into the alleged financial misappropriation in the NDDC which saw the acting MD of the government agency, Dr. Pondei fainting during the session. Among the shocking discovery is that in 2018, the commission awarded a contract to construct the Elebele pedestrian bridge at Ogbia local government in Bayels...

Contract splitting is rampant in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Niger Delta Affairs Minister Godswill Akpabio, said on Monday. According to him, the management of the agency indulges in splitting contracts to outwit the minister and evade approval. Speaking before the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta in Abuja, the minister alleged that the agency spent “over N4.2 billion in a day in tranches of N49 million.” The committee is probing how N40 billion was spent by the Interim Management Committee (IMC). Akpabio was invited with the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei. Pondei fainted during the proceedings and had to be revived and taken to the hospital. The minister also told the panel why Ms. Joi Nunieh was sacked as the agency’s managing director. Ms Nunieh, Akpabio said, was sacked, following a letter from the late Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, that she did not posses the requisite qualification to occu...

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has explained that its acting Managing Director, Prof. Keme Pondei, collapsed at the National Assembly because he ignored his doctors’ advice on his state of health. A statement signed by the Director, Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, said Pondei has been ill for the past two weeks but that his condition deteriorated Monday morning necessitating his doctors to advise him against attending the hearing. Odili said: “The commission wishes to disclose that Prof Pondei has been ill for the past two weeks. This morning, his condition deteriorated, and his doctors advised against attending the hearing. “However, he ignored his doctors’ advice because of the realisation that his traducers will use his absence at the hearing to soil his name and reputation. He thought he could make it through the hearing and take care of his health later. As it turned out, his doctors were right. Prof Pondei is in a stable condition at a clinic in Abuja.” Odili sai...

The 2018 and 2019 Scholarship beneficiaries of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, on Monday, 20/07/2020, assembled at the Nigerian High Commission, London, to cry out to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari over the non-payment of their tuition fee by the NDDC, IgbereTV reports. The scholars asked President Buhari to speedily effect the payment, because they stand the risk of eviction from their institutions and subsequent deportation, as their institutions had already threatened to stop their scholarship programmes. A letter jointly sent by the scholars to President Buhari reads in part: “Your Excellency, we have continually been harassed by series of letters from our institutions threatening to withdraw their service. Some students have not been very lucky as the responsibility for the payment of their tuition has been transferred to them with strict timelines and conditions. “For over ten (10) months, scholars have been subjected to all kinds of dehumanising challenges now...

Before I was born, there is this popular motivation phrase that state “Nigeria go better” Now that I am getting old, we are still facing the same problem “corruption” and I don’t think this mess will come to an end. When do we hear about Magu’s news? Now the latest news on corruption is the NDDC’s acting MD. He collapsed in the house of rep while facing panel on the loot of about 1.5 Billion Naira. We’ve got an angular shot of his drama cause I don’t agree this is not a script.

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta, Olubumi Ojo has excused himself from the hearing into the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) following accusation of conflict of interest. The lawmaker stepped aside for Thomas Ereyitomi to continue the investigation into mismanagement of funds by the Commission. It would be recalled that the Acting Managing Director of the commission, Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei last week staged a walkout on the committee, stating that Mr. Ojo is a man of interest in the ongoing investigation. The committee again on Friday summoned both Prof. Pondei and Sen Godswill Akpabio, the minister for Niger Delta Affairs, following revelations by the former Acting Managing Director of the Commission, Joi Nunieh. At the commencement of the investigation today, Mr. Ojo declared that, “I want say clearly that my colleagues and the leadership has passed a vote of confidence on me, however, I will like to excuse myself from this investigativ...