Ishola Michael
The North-East Development Commission (NEDC) established to rebuild the subregion devastated by various acts of insurgency, particularly the dreaded Islamist terror group Boko Haram, has been defended of abandoning any of the projects it embarked upon.
The defence by a group known as Arewa Round Table Against Corrupt Practices (ARTACP), is coming on the backdrops of insinuation and accusations that the Commission has abandoned some ongoing projects across the subregion.
ARTACP explained that from its In-depth investigations and findings, there are no abandoned projects from all the contracts awarded by NEDC across the 6 states of the subregion.
Coordinator of the Group, Aliyu A Mohammed, and the Secretary, Lawal Abdullahi made their position public when they jointly addressed Journalists at Zaranda Hotel Bauchi, on Sunday.
They said that the allegations of misappropriation of funds against the NEDC under the leadership of the MD/CEO, Mohammed Goni Akali to the tune of N146.19 billion is nothing but mischievous, false and baseless.
The two leaders while reacting to the allegations published by some media outlets insinuating that there are funds misappropriation in NEDC, said that the allegations are nothing but paddling of malicious falsehood.
According to them, “After a thorough investigations by our group and we visited all the areas mentioned by the petitioners on fact finding mission, our findings revealed that three is no abandoned projects from the ones warded by the NEDC in the entire six North – Eastern states.”
“All the projects awarded by the Commission, have either reached 50 to 70 percent of completion or , they stressed, the Contractors are making final arrangements to commence the project.
The group added, “It seems the petitioners do not know the projects they are discussing or where the projects are sited. For example, the petitioners talked about housing in Yobe state, both in Potiskum and Nguru, the contractors are making final preparations to commence the projects.
Still, the 250 houses allocated to Damaturu have reached 70 percent level of completion, so also, the 50 houses each in Geidam, Gujba, Bader and Jakusko, all the construction is ongoing and have reached 50 to 70 percent completion.”
On the issue of the supply of equipment at the Eye Clinic Centre in Azare; the group explained that the supply of the equipment was successfully completed and many people are benefitting from the service while on the construction of ICT training centre; and the construction of College of Legal and Islamic Studies, Misau, all in Bauchi state, the College was constructed even before the birth of NEDC, and no project was cited in the college by the NEDC,
The petitioners also alleged abandoned construction of Central workshop in Maiduguri, Borno state; construction of Birma Primary School at Kashimbila in Taraba state; Madagali and Pinilla Primary Schools projects in Adamawa state.
ARTACP stated that, “To put the records straight, the above contracts were not awarded by the Commission, Mega School Project was sited in Mubi South of Adamawa State and the construction is on going, it has reached 60 to 70 percent of completion”.
It added that, “Three bridges were constructed in Madagali and Michika all in Adamawa state among other projects sited in the state”.
“We also want to inform the petitioners and Nigerians that there is no abandoned projects in Jalingo, Sadauna, Zing and Ussa Local Government Areas of Taraba State,” it stressed.
The group further explained that, “All the allegations are fictitious, malicious and figment of the imaginations of the petitioners to achieve their selfish aim of blackmailing the Commission through cheap publicity.”
They stated that, “The petitioners were ignorant on how government agencies operate, they don’t know that all government agencies, ministries and departments have edicts that guide their establishment, including the mandate given to them and clear guidelines on how they operate.”
“And they don’t know the rules and regulations guiding their activities, and operations, they have the appropriate place to report all their activities, not to the unidentified agencies, but If they can walk on to the Commission and seek to know the information about the projects, they will know the position of everything once they agree to listen to them,” they stressed.
““Our findings, as reported, confirmed to us that the Commission gave them attention and they fixed appointments with one of the Directors of the Commission while on his way to attend official engagement outside the headquarters and advised them to come back so he will attend to them when he returned, but they decided to go to the media without cross checking the facts, thinking that they will get cheap publicity and blackmail the Commission,” the group added.
It concluded stating that, “Let the petitioners allow NEDC to develop the region. It is unfortunate some people want to bring the commission down with false claims and false accusations,”
