Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
Various approved documents in hundreds from the Office of the Secretary to the Delta State Government, Mr Chiedu Ebie which has been undergoing scrutiny and verification by SecretReporters has unearthed avoidable corrupt practices by the number three man in the State Executive Council.
Chiedu Ebie who is marking his birthday today may have used his official biro to plunder the state into more debt with most approved funds going to people and places that have no business accessing public funds, this medium can authoritatively report.
According to documents in our possession, Mr Ebie as SSG has spent a whopping N1.35 billion in just one year on NGOs with most of them not registered with CAC but hurriedly formed by political groups to milk the state with alleged connivance from the SSG office who has never done checks to authenticate if they exist. Community Based Organisations designated as CBOs were also beneficiaries of this slush funds as well as Faith Based Organizations designated as FBOs.
A total of 46 of those groups whose list we sighted in Ebie’s office do not exist but came just for that day assigned to them to get their share of the generous SSG approving biro. Sources in the SSG office alleged that it’s also a way of Ebie siphoning money by doling out public funds to fictitious groups who are mainly political pressure groups known to him to begin piling up his financial war chest in his bid to become the Deputy Governor to an Urhobo Governor in 2023, which he is been prepared for. Such is the Birthday Baby Boy plan!
With N1.35 billion down the drain, documents proved that Ebie used 69.39% of his 2019 budget out of N1.9 billion which was initially budgeted. It could have been more as SecretReporters could not ascertain if he doled out more money in the month of November and December 2019 as we were yet to sort out names of groups and individuals that his office paid in both months.
Surprisingly, the money to the groups topped his budget in 2019, meaning he was just in the office to sign out funds for a whole year and receiving visitors who brought nothing to Delta State Government.
What can N1.35 billion do?
With the money given to the NGOs and others, the sum of N1.35 could have brought the abandoned Warri Stadium back to life as well as renovate 3000 dilapidated public primary and secondary schools in the state with equipped library in each of them.
The sum can also complete the long overdue Okpanam road that is begging for completion as well as pay scholarships for over 5000 Deltans to go to foreign countries to learn ICT courses.
When contacted on phone, Mr Ebie who is one of Ex. Gov. James Ibori boys through which he got the SSG position, denied spending such staggering amount of money on NGOs, even though he admitted in the document to have signed away such. He stated that today is his birthday and will appreciate if our reporter comes to the office on January 7th 2020 when he will be on duty, for them to go through the records together and know if any such disbursement was made.
