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Inflation of contract for Vice President’s residence,
other alleged fraud: NUJ Gives FCT
Minister
7 Days' Ultimatum
Newsdiaryonline Mon Nov 7,2011
Senator Bala Mohammed
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Abuja Council has stated
that it has become necessary for the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) to
begin investigation into of
fresh revelations of alleged massive corrupt practices in the
Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), headed by
Senator Bala Mohammed. Chairman of Council, Mr. Jacob Edi in a
statement Monday, said at a time when government was considering
cutting cost and imposing harsh economic policies on the people,
the FCT minister and his management team have continued to waste
tax payers’ money on non-existent projects as recently
discovered by the Senator Smart Adeyemi Senate Committee on the
FCT.
Edi continued that even when such projects exist, they were
usually over-inflated .He cited examples such as
the Kubwa expressway as
well as the Vice president’s residence.
The NUJ chairman
observed that unless the EFCC moves in and begins a thorough
investigation into the award of contracts in the FCTA by
Mohammed since his re-appointment, the fight against corruption
will be viewed as dead.
Only recently, the Senate Committee on FCT discovered that the
official residences of the Senate President, his deputy, Speaker
of the House of Representatives and his deputy which were
awarded for over N3billion could not be located when the
committee went for oversight functions.
It was further
discovered that there was 120 percent increase in the cost of
the contract of the official residence of the vice president
which was originally awarded in October 2009 at N7 billion but
unilaterally reviewed upward to N16 billion.
According to the NUJ chairman, the FCTA had awarded a road in
Kuje Area Council since March this year and paid the full
contract sum of N880 million with less than 5 percent of the job
done though the road is scheduled for completion in about
3weeks.
Edi hinted that the NUJ would not shirk its responsibility of
holding the FCTA accountable to the people of the territory and
reiterated the determination of the Council to use the Freedom
of Information Act to get the minister accountable.
He disclosed that the
NUJ Abuja has written the minister and would wait for the
mandatory seven days and if the minister fails to furnish the
Council with details of all roads and infrastructure contracts
awards then the NUJ would be left with no alternative but to
seek legal redress.
The NUJ chairman charged
Nigerians to give support to the Senate Committee on FCT as it
works to ensure that the FCT administration was accountable.
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