07 June 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, says the Federal Government would go after all those who misappropriated funds belonging to the Niger Delta Ministry and make them face the consequences.
Usani said the plan to target those who misapplied the funds for punishment was the decision of last week’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council in Abuja.
The minister said the Federal Government has uncovered some shady deals by some contractors who handled projects in the Niger Delta region between 2009 and 2015.
He said while some of the contractors made away with the money paid them without appearing on the sites of the projects, some others managed to implement 12 per cent of the projects they were paid for.
A technical audit report on the Ministry showed that it spent N423 billion from 2009 when it was created, to 2015. The report is the outcome an investigation by the current administration in the ministry, which covered all contracts awarded and projects and programmes carried out in the ministry from inception.
“The revealing content of the report shows that over N423 billion had been expended in the region by the ministry alone, not other intervening agencies, from 2009 to 2015.
“From this amount, project execution rate has been at 12 per cent with an average completion rate of a project standing at five years and the impact rate is eight per cent,” the minister revealed.
According to him, the report indicated that about 60 per cent of the N700 billion appropriated for contracts in the Niger Delta region had been paid out to the contractors which recorded a low execution of the jobs.
He said, “To find that N423 billion had been expended in the region with the type of results we see shows that there is something tangibly and obviously wrong with how procurement had been carried out in the ministry.”
The minister added that the number of projects awarded during the period was 427 but there was no uniform action by contractors.
He said the action to be taken against defaulters would vary according to the measure of liabilities.