NDDC Probe: Pondei, Others Collecting 30% Before Contractors Are Paid ―Report

The Senate has revealed that the new head of the Interim Management Committee, IMC, of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei and other members of the Committee now collect 20 per cent to 30 per cent of contract sums before Contractors are paid.

This is contained in the report of the Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, APC, Ekiti North led Ad-hoc Committee on Investigation of the alleged Financial Recklessness to the tune of N40 billion in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, by the IMC.

The Committee report also indicated that the claim by the IMC and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, that the Headquarters of the Commission had been completed to 95 per cent is false.

The Senate Committee in the report said that these were revealed by the Chairman, Contractors Association of Niger Delta Development Commission, Mr Joe Adia in a written submission to it.

The report read in part: “that the claim of the Interim Management Committee( IMC) of the NDDC of paying with less than N50 Million is totally untrue as there are over 500 transformer installation and payments less than N4.5 million that have not been made for over eight years is untrue.

“That the new head of IMC- Prof Pondei and other members of IMC are now collecting 20% – 30% of contract sums before Contractors are paid.”

According to Adia in his submission, the Immediate past Acting Managing Director of the Commission, Mrs Gbene Joi Nunieh had stopped all contractors from accessing the Commission till the completion of the Forensic Audit and this made it difficult for contractors to seek payment for projects they executed.

Recall that the Senate on 23rd July considered the Senator Adetunmbi led Ad-hoc Committee on Investigation of the alleged Financial Recklessness where it indicted itself as an institution for not carrying out an effective oversight function on the activities of the IMC of the NDDC that led to the rot and high level of corruption in the interventionist agency.
The Senate had also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency, sack the Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei-led Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over alleged financial recklessness and constitute a new board for the NDDC.

The Ad-hoc Committee which had Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, All Progressives Congress, APC, Ekiti North as Chairman, had Senators Jika Dauda Haliru, APC Bauchi Central; Mohammed Tanko Almakura, APC Nasarawa South; Abdulfatai Buhari; APC Oyo North; Chukwuka Utazi, PDP, Enugu North, Ibrahim Hadeija, APC Jigawa North East and Degi – Eremienyo Biobarakuma Wangaha, APC Bayelsa East.

End.