Secret Reporters No place to hide
The Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission led by Prof Keme Podei backed by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, paid a scandalous N641m for media support to cover its forensic audit exercise and rebut media attacks, according to documents obtained by Pointblank.
In the documents, the money was paid on May 23, 2020, to a company named Clear Point Communication Limited with Zenith Bank account number: 1012613187.
Investigation revealed that Clear Point Communication, incorporated on 16 February 2005 with registration number 616900 as an unlimited company, is owned by Ekoriko Moffat from Akwa Ibom State and his wife Ekoriko Ngozi as Directors. The company’s listed address is at 3/10 Military Street, Onikan, Lagos. In one document, N642million was paid to Clear Point for “Media And Communications Support For Forensic Audit Excecise.” While another N39.4m was paid to the same company as consultancy on rebuttal of media attacks against Akpabio and members of the NDDC IMC.
Chairman of the Senate panel on NDDC, Peter Nwaoboshi, had on Wednesday accused the minister of alleged misappropriation of funds of the commission over the years.
Making available some documents to journalists on the alleged involvement of Akpabio in the financial scam, Nwaoboshi said that in 2017 alone, the Niger Delta Affairs Minister collected contracts worth N500m from the NDDC without execution and failed to refund the money.
The NDDC and Akpabio have both been in the news lately with allegations of looting of public funds involving both parties making the rounds.
Civil society groups and senior legal practitioners across the country have called for a thorough probe of the financial misappropriation going on at the NDDC.
