CSOs Allege N146bn Fraud at NEDC

Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Al-Mushahid Initiative for Transparency and Accountability, and the People’s Advocacy for Transparency and Accountability, have accused the management of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) of involvement in N146 billion fraud.

The groups called on the Managing Director of the North-East Development Commission, Mohammed Alkali, to respond to allegations of mismanagement of budgetary allocations, amounting to N146,191,606,649.25.

The NGOs asserted that the management of the company refused to respond to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request from the two organisations in relation to the allegations.

The groups  sought the management’s response failing which the issue would be  reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigerian Police Force, and other anti-graft agencies.

Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, the National President of AITA, Aminu Majidadi, and the Executive Chairman of PATAI, Francis Bassey, said the communities in the North-east were negatively impacted by the failure of the commission to complete project or carry out projects already budgeted for.

The CSOs had sent a petition to the MD, after which a  reminder request-for-interview letters was sent on the January 18, January 31, and February 14, all of which were unanswered.

Bassey said rather than a response from the commission or the MD himself, the groups had received a call from one Mr Gab Amos, who claimed to be a Department of State Services Personnel with the Maiduguri Command, an action the groups considered as intimidation.

“At this point, it is convincingly clear that their aim is to stop us from uncovering the truth and letting the public know what is happening in the Commission for reasons best known to them. It is unfortunate that instead of responding to our request for their side of the story, as we are empowered by the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011 against this evidently massive allegation of corruption, the Commission is busy trying to intimidate us”, he said.

The NGOs also affirmed that community members and groups in the North-East had written to them, alleging that projects for which the commission received funding were abandoned without any account of how they were expended.

Some of the allegedly abandoned projects include construction of a central workshop in Maiduguri, Borno State; construction of Birama Primary School in Kashimbila, Taraba State; supply of equipment to an ophthalmology centre in Azare, Bauchi State; construction of mass housing units in Dadi Kwowa, Gombe State construction of Nguru mass housing units, and 300 mass housing units in Damaturu, both in Yobe state, among others.

The groups assured of their commitment to ensuring that anyone found guilty was prosecuted while appealing to Alkali to respond to its petitions, to avoid further actions.

“At this juncture, we are assuring Nigerians that AITA and PATAI are committed to this course and will leave no stone unturned to ensuring that the truth is out and anyone found guilty is prosecuted accordingly.

“In conclusion, we are calling on the Managing Director, North East Development Commission to, as a matter of necessity, according to the FOI, respond to our request for his side of the story to avoid further lawful actions to ensure the right thing is done using the facts within our possession to prove this case.”

(ThisDay)