N434.5 million contract: CCT denies wrongdoing, says mischief makers at work

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has reacted to reports making the round in some online media that it couldn’t justify payment to contractors to the tune of N434.5 million.

It said the report was laced with mischief as projects with which the said fund was released in 2019 have been well executed and put to use.

The CCT management recalled its appearance before the Public Accounts Committee of the Senate and that of the House of Representatives on the basis of the audit report by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) and defended the said capital expenditure for the 2019 satisfactorily.

A statement by the Spokesperson for the CCT, Atekojo Samson Usman on Thursday in Abuja, said, “the Tribunal which has the sole power to adjudicate on conducts of public officers has only its head office in Abuja, the nation’s capital handling the entire public officers through the federation.

“A task too over burden with pendency of cases for long period of time, hence, it thought it wise to open offices across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

“It was based on that, that members of CCT recommended the opening of States offices, i.e. Calabar, Enugu, Kaduna and Bauchi and which eventually necessitated construction of office accommodations.”

Denying any wrongdoing as reports would want to portray the Tribunal, the statement explained that due process was followed in the handling of the projects.

It said: “In line with the public procurement act, the projects were competitively bidded after calling for expression of interest and bidders emerged through due process before the award of contracts to winners. It’s worth noting that the bidding was conducted in most transparent manner with the presence of some Civil Society Organisations and media coverage.

“It’s gratifying to note that every bit of documents involving the 2019 expenditure are available for record purposes including those of payment vouchers.

“The CCT is categorically putting on record that the said N434.5 million was for 2018/2019 capital projects. The projects are verifiable in Calabar, Enugu, Kaduna and Bauchi as the projects have been completed and are now being used.

“The likelihood diversion of the said capital projects fund by the CCT as reported was not only mischievous, but a figment of imagination of some elements within, but working in cahoots with outsiders who wanted the agency flattened in order to sustain their corruption against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Meanwhile, the audit report, the latest in the OAuGF’s annual series, titled, ‘Non-compliance/Internal Control Weakness Issues in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the Year ended December 31, 2019’ was not the latest exercise that perused the financial transactions of CCT.

“The same auditors from the AuGF’s office have carried out the 2020 exercise and found no in financial infraction in the agency.

“The CCT paid out the sum of N434.5 million to contractors after the projects were satisfactorily executed in Calabar, Enugu, Kaduna and Bauchi and it remain to be known when it’s wrong to pay for projects executed in Nigeria.

“Moreso, at the time of auditors’ visit, original payment vouchers, Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation (BEME), Consultants Interim Payment Certificate (IPC) and other relevant documents that would have aided the auditors were in custody of Tenders Board Secretary who was bereaved and was unavailable.

“The documents were later assembled and forwarded to the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, while their report is being awaited.

“The Justice Danladi Umar-led CCT was currently carrying out reforms that would make the Tribunal foremost in discharging its adjudicative responsibility, a development that has seen to the provision of the 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for execution of virtual court proceedings and automation of court system”, the statement concluded.