TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA) has called for the arrest and prosecution of the 50-member Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Contracts Verification Committee (CVC), for saying that the Interim Management Committee was coerced into making payments for contracts before the Commission’s 2019 budget could be paid for.
Spokesman of NDRA, Darlington Nwauju, disclosed this at the weekend, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, insisted that members of the CVC should be arrested for deceiving Niger Delta people.
The group expressed shock about the revelation, saying that it was a clear breach of Public Service Rules and Regulations and criminal breach of trust for the NDDC IMC to pay for jobs without verification approval.
Nwauju expressed: “Our organisation is miffed by the latest allegation by Prof Kema Pondei in the NDDC drama series, claiming that the some NASS (National Assembly) committee members on NDDC coerced the IMC into making payments for contracts before the Commission’s 2019 budget could be paid for.
“We consider this as one of the several disingenuous and inchoate scripts aimed at diverting the attention of the public from the real issues plaguing that commission.
“The claim by the NDDC was that there were several fake Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs) and the NDDC needed to stop frivolous payments and even arrest such purveyors of fake IPCs in order to set the tone for the forensic audit exercise.
“The NDRA is, therefore, shocked to read of the claims by the NDDC IMC under Prof. Pondei, that they were coerced into making payments”, he expressed.
The group wondered why the commission should make payments for unexecuted or uncompleted jobs, saying that it was an indication that the IMC was incompetent.
“We, therefore, demand that the 50-member Contracts Verification Committee be immediately arrested for deceiving Niger Deltans and allowances paid them for the two weeks period be refunded immediately and the affected professional staff members, who are members of this Committee, be relieved of their duties.
“Again, we restate our call for the sack of the Prof. Pondei-led IMC for breach of public trust and conspiracy to continue to deprive the people of the region of meaningful development”, NDRA called.
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