Niger Delta Group Demands Arrest And Prosecution Of NDDC Contracts Verification Committee Over Forced Payments To Contractors

The Niger Delta Rights Advocates called for the arrest and prosecution of the 50 members making up the Niger Delta Development Commission Contracts Verification Committee over the revelation that they were forced to make payments to some contractors.

The group noted that the latest revelation by the Managing Director of the commission, Prof Kema Pondei, was a clear indication that the management of NDDC had breached the public service rules and regulations, which is tantamount to the criminal breach of trust.

In a statement by spokesperson of the group, Darlington Nwauju, the NDRA said that the latest revelation was one of the several disingenuous scripts aimed at diverting the attention of the public from the real issues plaguing the commission.

The statement reads, "Based on this latest expository of an obviously confused management team led by Prof Pondei, is it not abundantly clear that there is breach of public service rules and regulations and criminal breach of trust for the NDDC IMC to pay for jobs without verification even after publicly declaring that it had set-up such a committee?

"We therefore demand that the 50-member Contracts Verification Committee be immediately arrested for deceiving Niger Deltans and allowances paid them for the two weeks period be refunded immediately and the affected professional staff members who are members of this committee be relieved of their duties"

The statement also called for the sack of the Prof Pondei-led IMC for breach of public trust and conspiracy to continue to deprive the people of the region of meaningful development.