ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – Senate has begun an investigation into the N2.4 billion abandoned Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)’s Agbaraho Township Road project in Ugheli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
This followed a petition, which was submitted on Wednesday by Senator Ighoyota Amori dated November 17.
Amori, who revealed that the contract for the 23 kilometer road was awarded in 2009 to Messer Serena Rocks Limited at the cost of the N2.4 billion, said that there was nothing to show on ground despite that the contractor has received N360 million as mobilisation fees in 2011 and another N360 million in 2012 from the Federal Government to execute the contract.
He lamented that all efforts by the community leaders to get the contractor met brick wall, and NDDC is not forthcoming with information.
“We formally write to bring to your notice a clear case of massive corruption going on in NNDC relating to several development projects in the Niger Delta using our great kingdom Agbarho as a case study. After several years of neglect, in 2009 NDDC awarded the contract for the contraction of Agbarho Township Roads (23km) to Messer Serena Rock Limited at a cost of two billion, four hundred million Naira (N2.4 billion) only.
“After a long process of securing presidential approval for funding of the aforesaid project, in 2011 the contractor (Serena Rocks Limited) was paid N360.7 million, being 15 percent mobilisation to commence on the project. In 2012 the contractor received another N360 million payment for the same project with nothing on ground.
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“We were later told that the project design did not include stone base and drainage although in NDDC’s approved budget for 2011 and 2012 the project was captioned as “construction of Agbarho Township Road with comprehensive Drainage”.
“All efforts by our community leaders to get the contractor (Serena Rock Limited) to execute the project has met brick wall and NDDC is not forthcoming with information. NDDC officials also confirmed to us that over N668 million is in custody of the contractor for over five-year now without any job done on the project.
“We are not unaware of the Federal Auditor General’s findings of over N183 billion fraud in the Commission, and we are persuaded that this is one of such case. NDDC official in the last eight years awarded several contracts to their cronies and made advance payments and sometimes full payment with little or no job done in the affected communities,” the petition, which was co-signed by the community leaders, read.
The petition was, thereafter, referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, and was given four weeks to submit the report.
