Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has denied squandering the sum of N200 billion on payment for fake contracts in the past two months.
This is as the media has been inundated with several petitions and reports from different groups in the region, calling on EFCC to probe the activities of the Interim Management Committee of the Commission over massive corruption.
NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, in a statement said the news was fake as the Commission has only paid N22 billion in the last two months, to vendors, suppliers and contractors owed N50 million and below.
Odili who called on stakeholders to ignore the reports, explained that the total sum available to the NDDC in the last two months was N33 billion, hence, it was impossible to squandered N200 billion, as alleged in some quarters.
He said while the Commission welcomes intense media scrutiny, it abhors fake news peddled by online publications whose interests, according to him, have nothing to do with the common good.
“Our attention has been drawn to a report in an online publication accusing the Interim Management Committee of squandering N200 billion on payment for fake contracts in the past two months.
“This story is classical fake news as the Commission has not paid out any such amount, even for genuine contracts, not to talk of fake ones.
“The total payments made by the Interim Management Committee in the past two months is about N22 billion. This covers payments to vendors and suppliers like hotels, and contractors, especially those owed N50 million and below.
“The total funds available to the Commission in the past three months is N33 billion, a rather distant cry from the humongous amount quoted by the report. Since the Commission cannot pay what it does not have, it beats the imagination where these merchants of falsehood cooked their figures from.”
