Nigeria’s foremost whistle blowers, George Uboh Whistle Blowers Network (GUWN), has written to Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, who is Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board, demanding explanations and proper documents to trump the allegations of misappropriation of funds amounting to N7.5 billion expended on consultancy and trainings.
Contained in a Freedom of Information (FOI) Letter, the GUWN described the organisation’s response to the allegations as self-serving, urging the NCDMB boss to avail requisite documents or face court actions and nation-wide protests in its Abuja and Bayelsa offices.
According to the letter signed by Dr George Uboh, “the NCDMB’s response via its website is self-serving compared to Sahara Reporters N7B consultancy and N580 million 5-day training allegations. NCDMB without proffering any evidence to trump Sahara Reporters’ documentary evidence-based allegations has only sung to birds.”
Recall that a report by Sahara Reporters revealed that the Nigerian Content Board NCDMB Boss, Ogbe Spent N7Billion On Consultancy and Over N580Million on 5-Day London Training, Logistics and Allowances.
The amount of N7.7 billion ($4.7 million) was allegedly misappropriated without the necessary approval from authorised levels as stipulated in the relevant procurement protocols and policies, SaharaReporters had learnt.
Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), faces allegations of approving the diversion of public funds from the Nigerian Content Development Fund’s US dollar account at the Central Bank of Nigeria into questionable contracts.
The amount of N7.7 billion ($4.7 million) was allegedly misappropriated without the necessary approval from authorised levels as stipulated in the relevant procurement protocols and policies, SaharaReporters has learned.
According to report, the Executive Secretary endorsed three requests made by Fatima Bashir Mohammed, who purportedly leveraged her previous role at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in Nigeria (ICPC) to authorize payments to a consulting firm, S.B Capital Partners & Advisory Limited, owned by Stephen Bawa.
These payments significantly exceeded the approval limits, even for the Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB).
The report stated that the approving authority for such amounts is the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
“Two of the three payments are US$3,062,089.52 and US$1,636,846.42, totalling US$4,698,935.94 (which amounts to N5,052,447,675.00 and N2,700,796,593.00 respectively, and totalling N7,753,244,301.00) at the average exchange rate of 1,650/US$1 prevailing at the time. None of the three split amounts falls within the payment threshold outside the FEC,” one of the sources said.
According to the report, the most troubling aspect is that the payment was processed at the Central Bank of Nigeria without any evidence that the consultant had actually recovered the funds for which the fee was paid.
