The spokesperson of the house of representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu has alleged that Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Hon. Akpabio submitted newspapers cuttings as his testimony during the NDDC probe.

Hon. Benjamin said this during an interactive session with Seun Okinbaloye on the programme,’Politics Today’ on Channels TV.

Akpabio And NDDC Probe Saga

Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta affairs, appeared before the house of representatives committee probing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The minister got to the hearing room at 11:20am.

Akpabio was summoned by the house committee on NDDC after Joy Nunieh, a former acting managing director of the commission, levelled some allegations against him.

Nunieh said during her time as the head of the agency she was asked to spend N10 billion on Christmas bonus.

She said rejecting the idea contributed to her removal from office.

She alleged Akpabio hijacked the forensic audit of the commission ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“He (Akpabio) said the first thing I would do is to write a letter to him and he gave me the draft, that I should put it on my letterhead. In that letter, I was supposed to write about most of the companies; [That] senator Nwaoboshi owned the 98 companies,” she said.

The Minister while responding to the allegations accused members of the National Assembly of being the beneficiaries of most of the contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

While responding to questions on the expenditure during this period of a forensic audit, he said you cannot close down the NDDC because of the security implication on the region. He pointed out that those that have done jobs for the commission should be paid while revealing that members of the national assembly were the greatest beneficiaries.

According to Akpabio, ‘’The NDDC plays a vital role in ensuring the peace and security of the region and 90% or more of the resources of the country come from there.’’

“If you close it down in totality all you will have is chaos. You will have a lot of, not just militancy, you will have a lot of insurrection.’’

“So it is important that people who have gone to court, people who genuinely did jobs should be paid for their jobs. For me, I am not against it because, of course, who are even the greatest beneficiaries? It is you people.”

When a female lawmaker interrupted his presentation and asked what benefits the lawmakers get from the contracts, the minister said, “I just told you that we have records to show that most of the contracts in the NDDC are given out to members of the National Assembly.”

Akpabio also informed the members of the committee that the immediate past acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Joy Nunieh, was sacked when he received a letter from the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, disclosing that she did not have a valid NYSC certificate or exemption letter. He also pointed out that she was sacked for insubordination.