The NDDC in what appears a shocking example of corruption that has helped undermine development in the Niger-Delta region has been caught in the act of awarding a multi-million contract to an unqualified company in Delta State.
Under the deal, NDDC on May 31, 2012, awarded the construction of Egodo – Ogbeingbene road in the Burutu area of Delta State to Messrs Chesa Nigeria Limited at the sum of N1, 044,098,500.00. This is even as checks on the Chesa status from the CAC, show it was not registered to carry out road construction.
Despite Messrs Chesa Nigeria Limited not being a qualified company for the job, the NDDC has since gone ahead to award a multi-million naira road construction project to her.
Action experts who spoke to MAWA, say NDDC breached procurement laws by selecting an unqualified company to execute a job that requires expertise and professionalism.
“Go and study Nigerian procurement laws, you will find that in virtually all NDDC contract awards, they either select a ghost or a fake company, which is a breach of Nigerian laws, those who are behind it ought to be jailed when found guilty”, Mr. Sam, a lawyer with Femi Falana Chambers told MAWA
The company that has its operation office located at No. 160 Ojuelegba Road, Surulere Lagos, and was registered on August 21, 2011, has Chukwu Rose, Chukwu Emmanuel, Chukwu Anthony as both Directors and shareholders.
When MAWA officials visited the project site, we found that the project has been abandoned and contractors have since left the site leaving behind obsolete equipment.
In different narratives, the community residents recounted how the contractor has since abandoned the project a long time ago. Mr. Saikibo Daniel, who led community residents that spoke to MAWA, said the project has since been abandoned years ago.
“When we saw contractors moved equipment to the site, we were very happy that the long-suffering we had experienced on the road will be addressed following the road construction, to our surprise, shortly after the project was commenced, the contractors abandoned it and left,” Daniel said.
Some group of farmers led by Mr. Osekene told MAWA officials that the abandoned road is very fundamental to the economic viability of the area and have since appealed to the NDDC authority to order contractors back to the site.