NDDC: We stand by the list of contract beneficiaries released by Akpabio

By our reporter| The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Tuesday said the list of contract beneficiaries released by Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta Affairs, is authentic.

In the list made public on Monday by the minister, Peter Nwaoboshi, chairman of the senate committee on NDDC; Matthew Urhoghide, chairman of the senate committee on public accounts; and Orji Uzor Kalu, senate whip were named as beneficiaries.

Also in the list are, James Ibori and Emmanuel Uduaghan, former governors of Delta state, and Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, amongst others.

All the individuals mentioned in Akpabio’s letter has since denied any involment in the award of NDDC contracts.

But in a statement on Tuesday, NDDC’s director of corporate affairs, Charles Odili said the agency stands by the list made public through the ministers letter as it emanated from 8,000 documents handed over to forensic auditors.

Odili said, “The Interim Management Committee of the commission stands by the list which came from files already in the possession of the forensic auditors.”

“It is not an Akpabio list but the NDDC’s list; the list is part of the volume of 8,000 documents already handed over to the forensic auditors.

“Prominent indigenes of the Niger Delta whose names were on the list should not panic as the commission knew that people used the names of prominent persons in the region to secure contracts, and the ongoing forensic audit would unearth those behind the contracts.

“[The] intention of the list was to expose committee chairmen in the national assembly who used fronts to collect contracts from the commission, some of which were never executed.”