The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has replied to the National Assembly denying he said that the lawmakers got 60 per cent of the contracts awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission.
He said the member had sought to know whether a Medical Director can serve as an Executive Director Project, to which he responded by saying that since 50 to 60 percent of NDDC contracts were medical-related, there was nothing wrong with a Medical Director serving in that capacity.
He also said that the Executive Director Project of the NDDC forwarded to him a list of 19 owed contracts which the Chairman of the House Committee on NDDC insisted must be paid before the 2020 budget of the commission is passed.
He also said that the NDDC has jot executed any contract under the 2020 budget since it has not been passed, while the 2019 budget was passed in April and has not been implemented
The Speaker, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, who announced the receipt of Akpabio’s response, said the minister claimed to have referred to old contracts awarded by the NDDC which had not been paid for and some of which are part of the constituency projects of the lawmakers.
Gbajabiamila said Akpabio’s response would be referred to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges to look at the merits of the minister’s arguments.
The minister’s response came after Gbajabiamila said the lawmakers would sue Akpabio for failing to prove that NDDC awarded contracts to them.
