NDDC Cancels 600 Contracts Worth N200bn

Vows to prosecute defaulting contractors, banks

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has said it has cancelled over 600 contracts worth more than N200 billion, in its efforts to streamline the procurement processes in the commission.

The commission also said it would prosecute contractors who abandoned its projects after collecting advance payments, as well as commercial banks that issued advance payment guarantee for the defaulting contractors.

Addressing journalists at the commission’s office in Port Harcourt yesterday, Managing Director of NDDC, Nsima Ekere, said the commission discovered irregularities in the cancelled contracts.

He said the commission was also working with the Presidency to arrest and prosecute the defaulting contractors and the commercial banks that provided guarantees for the contractors.

His words: “We are determined to go after all the contractors who got money from the NDDC and abandoned their projects. We are not going after the contractors only, but we are going after the banks they issued the advance payment guarantee. We have already recovered about N60 million from the banks.

“We have a committee that we set up that is working on it to identify all NDDC funds that are in the hands of contractors and projects have not been executed to match those funds that have been paid out. We will recover those monies and put them back in the system and then, prosecute the contractors involved. We are working with the Office of Mr. President on the prosecution of these defaulting contractors.”

He emphasised that the commission had to cancel the 600 contracts as part of its efforts to restructure the NDDC balance sheet.

The NDDC boss said, “So, the process and system of running the NDDC must be properly reformed so that it can run efficiently and deliver efficiently. We said we must restructure our balance sheet. The NDDC balance sheet is presently over-bloated, we have contingent liability in excess of N1.3 trillion.