The Chairman,
The Economic and Financal Crimes Commission (EFCC),
No. 5, Fomella Street, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja, Nigeria.
Sir,
Petition: How Delta State Government plans to cover up a crime scence. ( EFCC needs to probe The Multi Billion naira IPP plant contract in Oghara, Delta State.
The DELTA STATE INVESTMENTS DEVELOPMENT AGENCY are working so hard to cover up a crime scene that has left Deltans wondering how a 30 billionaira project till date has not been accounted for. Why will this crime scene be concessioned? The various focus areas of the Delta State Independent Project are being analyzed to determine the scope of the fraud that occurred under the leadership of Dr. E. Uduaghan.
From the project director of the project, Felix Abojie, to the project consultant, A & A Global Ltd, and the contractor, Davnotch Nig. Ltd, all of them did not have the necessary experience to carry out the project. The speaker of the House of Assembly, Engr Victor Ochei, who was also a part of the project, did not have the necessary experience to carry out the project. The bloated bill of quantities was raised to accommodate the huge amount of money that Dr. Uduaghan and his associates planned to steal from the state. This BOT was also shown in the documents that were submitted to the state for approval. A further display their inexperience and fraudulent intent is shown in aspects of the BOQ, ₦2.65billion for BOT! It should not have happened as the project was already awarded and paid for by the state and as such a BOT should not have arisen as it represents an instance where the investor incurs all project expenses.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Land Acquisition (₦143million & ₦22.5million) were some of the aspects that the previous administration secured. However, the project status report document shows that the value of the project has exceeded the value of the environmental assessment. The EIA on the BOQ has above value but the project status report document has ₦875million as the EIA value and reported as such everywhere else till the abrupt end of the project. The project was initiated under Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay as the Commissioner for Energy but on his elevation to the position of SSG he relocated the project to the office of the SSG, in clear disregard of the fact that the office of the SSG does not have a technical department or electrical engineers with required experience to handle such a project. So the new commissioner was not directly incharge of the project but the co-conspirator Comrade O. Macaulay.
The project was initially awarded for ₦21billion but reviewed upwards to ₦23billion but as of this moment only about 40% of the project has been completed but a wooping ₦20billion paid to the contractor Engr Victor Ochei. The question here is what aspects of the project has been paid for and what aspects haven’t, as no document exists where this is clearly distinguished.
Premium and Consultancy fees of ₦719million was paid in full to Senforce Insurance Brokers for Insurance coverage of the IPP Project (a company owned by Dr Uduaghan’s cousin in the person of Mr Oritsedere Samuel Otubu) and not to a reputable insurance company!
The acclaimed original project file does not contain any certificate for payment as the different payment authorization documents have been removed to hide fraudulent intent. Also the same file shows a lot of page number mutilation, obviously to cover up for a lot of their atrocities.
At the end of Dr Uduaghan’s allowed time in office another attempt was made to further defraud the state of ₦2.2billion through a bogus payment request which the project director declined to authorize payment on the grounds that “the value of works completed to date is ₦12,154,393,912.08 and the amount paid Davnotch Nig ltd to date is ₦19,507,826,566.00. Therefore, the contractor is not due for payment. The recommendation of the consultant A & A Global Engineering ltd for payment of ₦1,891,610,274.96 and another ₦325,427,741.20 to Davnotch Nig ltd is NOT SUPPORTED by any facts or a justifiable reason. So why was he paid to that tune if the value of work done was not worth that?
In another instance a ₦5billion payment was made without any initial corresponding pay authorization from the ministry of energy nor was the project director aware that such a payment was made. The issue was later ironed out frayed nerves calmed at a meeting in the presence of the Governor Dr Uduaghan.
From the government end only the project director was involved with the project to guaranty secrecy, though project file shows a list of engineers was attached to the project but in reality none of them was ever involved in the project (said file document is now missing from the file as they could not defend the fact that any of the engineers was ever engaged on the project).
The project file also shows that some of the listed engineers went to Germany for training. However, since they could not defend this, the file had to leave it blank to hide the award of the training fee.
The aforementioned expenses are some of the reasons why the project could not show the defined aspects of the BOQ for the various payments made. Also, the numerous page number mutilations and the lack of a certificate for payment are some of the reasons why the project is not able to provide adequate information.
Engr Victor Ochei, the former managing director of Davnotch Nig Ltd., removed himself from the company’s board of directors to avoid getting involved in any possible federal government investigation into the project.
POSSIBLE LINE OF QUESTIONS FOR EVERYONE INVITED WITH RESPECT TO THIS ISSUE: DELTA STATE IPP PROJECT
1. Focus on their level of competence. Years of experience on subject matter, knowledge of BOQ document & if they saw any faults in its content then ask specifics on contents
2. Finance related questions should be along the lines of irregularities in payment methods, lack of available payment vouchers/certificates to all completed aspects of the project as in civil works, purchases, electrical, EIA, land purchase, CAC expenses, Rolls-Royce payments & agreement documents etc
3. Bank details of all payments made
4. Issues relating to project contract agreement document & breach issue. How has the state been addressing the breach aspect and what has the consultant/director/contractor done about this
Comrade Victor Ojei popularly called Wong Box
Lead Activist for Young Nigerian Rights Organization and the National President of Rights and Anti-Corruption Forum of Nigeria.
