Reps Insist – Akpabio Must Publish Names Of Lawmakers Awarded NDDC Contracts
Reps Insist – Akpabio Must Publish Names Of Lawmakers Awarded NDDC Contracts
House of Representatives has insisted that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, publishes the names of the members of the National Assembly who got contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Spokesman for the House and Committee Chairman on Media Affairs and Publicity, Benjamin Kalu, said this in a statement on Tuesday.
He noted that the minister had alleged that 60 percent of all the NDDC projects were awarded to members of the lawmakers between the months of January and May 2020.
Kalu explained that following the claim, the leadership of the 9th House issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Akpabio to publish a list of the lawmakers.
Rather than publish the names, Akpabio listed some senators and house of reps members as beneficiaries in a private letter sent to Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, but they all denied getting the contracts.
Read Also: Akpabio Names Lawmakers Who Got NDDC Contracts
Kalu added that the content of the letter was irrelevant to the issues raised.
The House spokesman revealed that the lawmakers were already evaluating the minister’s letter and the directive to press charges against him have not been lifted.
He said if the letter does not address the issues raised, it would be sent to the court for clearance as the speaker had stated.
Kalu, therefore, urged Nigerians to continue to ask the right questions as to what happened to the N81.5 billion said to have been mismanaged by the NDDC in six months.
Read the full statement from Kalu below;
Following a motion unanimously adopted by the House, an investigation was ordered into the activities and financial malfeasance of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and its Interim Management Committee (IMC) between the periods of January to May 2020.
In a coordinated and calculated attempt to distract Nigerians from the ongoing investigation, the Minister of NDDC and the leadership of the IMC raised spurious allegations against members of the National Assembly.
The Minister claimed under oath that 60% of all the NDDC projects under investigation were awarded to members of the House between the months of January and May 2020.
Following this disturbing allegation, the leadership of the 9th House issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Minister to publish a list of the legislators allegedly awarded 60% of the entire projects of NDDC between January and May 2020.
Instead of publishing the list for the world to see in the interest of transparency, the Minister in his usual diversionary tactics, chose to send an irrelevant 8-paragraph private letter to the Speaker regarding projects of 2018 which pre-date the 9th House of Representatives and had little to do with the bogus claims he made.