{"id":27482,"date":"2020-07-21T23:52:49","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T22:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=27482"},"modified":"2020-07-21T23:52:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T22:52:49","slug":"videos-house-of-reps-speaker-gives-akpabio-48-hours-to-produce-list-of-nddc-contractor-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=27482","title":{"rendered":"Videos: House of Reps Speaker gives Akpabio 48 hours to produce list of NDDC contractor-lawmakers, et al (Updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has given the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, 48 hours to produce the list of federal lawmakers who benefited from 60% of contracts awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Akpabio made the allegation while giving testimony at the House Committee on NDDC&#8217;s investigation on alleged N40 billion Corruption probe.<br \/>\nGbajabiamila spoke on Tuesday a day after Akpabio made his allegations and was taken on by female lawmaker, Hon. Boma Goodhead, who refused to be restrained by Committee Acting Chairman, Hon. Thomas Ereyi-Tobi.<br \/>\nAkpabio was stopped by the chairman who kept saying, &#8216;it&#8217;s okay Minister&#8217;, while the female lawmaker continued to push the minister for answers to her own questions, despite attempts by the chairman to hush her.<br \/>\n<strong>The Videos:<\/strong><br \/>\n<div style=\"width: 696px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-27482-1\" width=\"696\" height=\"394\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/VID-20200721-WA0044.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/VID-20200721-WA0044.mp4\">https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/VID-20200721-WA0044.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div><br \/>\n<div style=\"width: 480px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-27482-2\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/VID-20200721-WA0009-1.mp4?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/VID-20200721-WA0009-1.mp4\">https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/VID-20200721-WA0009-1.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div><br \/>\nRecall that in his testimony before he passed out, the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC had corrected the figure the figure spent on handling Covid-19 matters among staff within a six-month, stating that it was not N1.5 billion that was spent but N1.32 billion.<br \/>\nMeanwhile, Akpabio, says he does not have knowledge of any contract allegedly awarded to the Chairman, House of Representatives Committees on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Rep. Olubumi Tunji-Ojo.<br \/>\nTunji-Ojo stepped aside to allow Ereyi-Tobi, his deputy to preside over the investigations, following the insistence of the NDDC that he was a complicit party.<br \/>\nAkpabio said that he was yet to see contract documents made to Tunji-Ojo\u2019s company.<br \/>\nHis words: \u201cI am not sure if NDDC awarded contract to the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee, Rep. Olubumi Tunji-Ojo.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27488\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27488\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27488\" src=\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/tunji-ojo-min-300x280.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"280\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27488\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Chair, Reps Committee on NDDC<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n\u201cFor me to say that, I need to see that contracts were awarded to his company; may be the contract was awarded in the area where he comes from in Ondo.&#8221;<br \/>\nOn the rift with the former acting Managing Director of NDDC, Ms Joy Nunieh, Akpabio alleged that she was sacked for insubordination and for being without an NYSC (National\u00a0 Youth Service Corps) discharge certificate.<br \/>\nOn the forensic audit, Akpabio said that the forensic audit directed by President Muhammadu Buhari is ongoing and that the process had not been hijacked as alleged in some quarters.<br \/>\nHe explained that the NDDC draws its funds from two sources, the Federal Government and the oil companies.<br \/>\nAkpabio recommended that the budgeting system for NDDC be changed so that it will reflect budget lines in the Appropriate Act.<br \/>\nHe also recommended some amendment to the NDDC Act to prevent the management from spending beyond its threshold by splitting big projects into small components.<br \/>\nAkpabio said that management of the NDDC had spent N4.2 billion, which is beyond its threshold by splitting projects into small components of N49 million to evade the approval of the supervising minister.<br \/>\nThe minister said that no member of staff of the NDDC had been sacked under his watch, saying that even those on leave got COVID-19 allowance.<br \/>\nContrary to allegations claiming that the IMC had spent N81.5 billion between February to May, Akpabio said only N23 billion had been spent.<br \/>\nThe minister said that only three contracts had been approved since he was appointed as minister of the ministry.<br \/>\nAccording to him, the contracts include the procurement of forensic auditors, purchase of official cars for NDDC and the award of emergency project on the control of COVID-19.<br \/>\nHe told the lawmakers that all contracts were approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC); except of the emergency COVID-19 project.<br \/>\nAkpabio said that at the time of his appointment, there was no budget running and could not have compelled the then\u00a0IMC to pay N10 billion for Christmas largess to all state.<br \/>\nHe said, prior to the implementation of the of the TSA account, the NDDC had over 300 accounts across commercial banks saying that with such systems, monies could get missing.<br \/>\nHowever, an analysis, which has gone viral on social media discountenance the ongoing drama which seeks to blur what actually took place at NDDC.<br \/>\nIt reads: &#8220;So while Professor Pondei, Minister Akpabio, and Madam Nunieh are diverting our attention with faint spells, alleged sexual harassment and slaps, let us stay focused on the real issues at hand.<br \/>\nDo you really understand this NDDC Issue beyond the melodrama?<br \/>\nThe real issue is that an Interim Management Committee of the NDDC allegedly did the following:<br \/>\n1. Spent N<a href=\"tel:81.5\">81.5<\/a>\u00a0billion as sundry expenses, including graduation ceremonies in the United Kingdom during lockdown.<br \/>\n2. Spent N<a href=\"tel:3.14\">3.14<\/a>\u00a0billion for COVID-19 palliatives for staff.<br \/>\n3. Spent N<a href=\"tel:1.3\">1.3<\/a>\u00a0billion on community relations.<br \/>\n4. Spent N<a href=\"tel:85.6\">85.6<\/a>million for travels during lockdown between February and May\u00a0<a href=\"tel:2020\">2020<\/a>.<br \/>\n5. Spent N<a href=\"tel:122.9\">122.9<\/a>\u00a0million on condolences between February \u2013 May\u00a0<a href=\"tel:2020\">2020<\/a>.<br \/>\n6. Spent N<a href=\"tel:23.8\">23.8<\/a>million on consultancy.<br \/>\n7. Spent N<a href=\"tel:2.6\">2.6<\/a>\u00a0billion on medicals,.<br \/>\n8. Spent N<a href=\"tel:790.9\">790.9<\/a>\u00a0million as imprest<br \/>\n9. Spent N<a href=\"tel:1.9\">1.9<\/a>\u00a0billion on Lasser fever<br \/>\n10. Spent N<a href=\"tel:706\">706<\/a>\u00a0million on legal services<br \/>\n11. Spent N<a href=\"tel:1.121\">1.121<\/a>billion on public communication<br \/>\n&#8220;In all these expenditures nothing was &#8220;spent&#8221; on Projects in the Niger Delta for the good of the common man for whose purpose the Commission was set up.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u25aa\ufe0e Additional reports by <strong>NAN<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has given the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, 48 hours to produce the list of federal lawmakers who benefited from 60% of contracts awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Akpabio made the allegation while giving testimony at the House Committee on NDDC&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5775,5777,7,5776],"tags":[22,1949,114],"class_list":["post-27482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-social-media","tag-akpabio","tag-boma","tag-gbajabiamila"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}