On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta Affairs has released documents to justify its allegations against the Minister of Niger Delta Affair, Senator Godswill Akpabio. The documents alleged that Akpabio requested the inclusion of about ₦500m worth of constituency project in the NDDC 2017 budget.
Peter Nwaoboshi who was the Chairman of the Senate Panel on the NDDC, last week, alleged that Akpabio, who was a Senator in the 8th Senate, wrote to the panel to requested the panel to push his constituency projects through the Niger Delta Development Commission.
Nwaoboshi added that Akpabio’s request was granted by him as the Chairman of the Senate Committee during the 8th Senate.
Akpabio has, however, denied the allegations through a press statement on Tuesday.
The Interim Management Committee of the NDDC is currently being investigated by the National Assembly over the alleged “reckless spending” of ₦40bn, between January and April 2020.
Also, panel members of the NDDC have been accused of corruption by the IMC while the Senate has set up an ad-hoc committee to probe the alleged scam.
According to The Punch, the documents that indict Akpabio were released to journalists at the National Assembly on Wednesday.
It writes that “one of the documents indicated that in August 2017, Akpabio, requested for projects worth N500m from the NDDC and suggested the fixed amount each of them would cost.
“In the letter dated August 7, 2017, and addressed to the Chairman, Senate Committee on NDDC, Akpabio, as the then Minority Leader, requested that five projects worth N500m be included for him as part of the NDDC budget.
“The projects include fencing the Federal Polytechnic Ukana, Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District (N200m); and fencing of the Federal Government College, Ikot Ekpene (Old site) Akwa North-West Senatorial District. (N100m)
“Another is entrepreneurship training on the use of modern farming implement for youths in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District at the cost of N75m, among others.”
