The Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG) and Integrity Advocacy for Development Initiative (IADI) and other organisations have dismissed reports that the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed, was embroiled in a N3 billion scam.
At a media conference weekend jointly addressed by Ogakwu Dominic, CSGGG; Chris Ofomhi, IADI; and Splendour Agbonkpolor, ILEWN, they described the allegation as unfounded and misleading.
They dismissed allegations by a blogger using his social media handles to accuse the DG, NEMA of looting N3 billion in one month.
It said: “We read with disdain, a mischievous and intentionally misleading tweet captioned “Contract Racketteering: Nema Boss, Ahmed, Looted N3billion In One Month” from the platform of the very notorious and quite controversial serial blackmailer, on the popular twitter platform now turned X.
“NEMA is an interventionist organization which’s major mandate is to address issues that require urgent and prompt responses. In doing so, the agency most times carries out emergency procurement in line with the stipulations of the Public Procurement Act 2007 and other extant regulations.
“It might interest you to know that the issues raised by Ude, has been raised by our organisation and other civil society organisations, but unlike the blackmailer, we wrote to the agency seeking clarification pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2011, and we were presented with detailed documents that showed that all the companies, had met statutory eligibility requirements and the supplies were duly carried by the numerous companies that executed the SNELEI project.
“The jobs awarded to the aforementioned companies were merely supplies, not contracts pertaining to construction or works that require experience and professionalism.
“The aforesaid companies are well registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and had all met their Bureau of Public Procurement compliant requirements, hence were all captured in the Federal Contractors database of the BPP, and as such eligible to do business in Nigeria. You may wish to visit: https://federalcontractors.bpp.gov.ng for confirmation of the complaint status of those companies as at 2023,” Dominic said.
The coalition said that perhaps sponsored by oppositions, the string of accusations on NEMA was far from isolated as it reflects a duly calculated and concerted effort by the author, shadow parties to tarnish Ahmed’s reputation through any means possible.
The coalition also dismissed another publications titled “Coalition Calls For Probe Over NEMA’s Alleged Failure to Refund $4.8 million Unspent After Nigerians’ Evacuation From Ukraine”, as not only false but an ill wind that blows no good.
It recalled that a total of 1500 stranded Nigerians, mostly students, were evacuated back over the Ukraine crisis.
It added, “They were airlifted from neighbouring countries to Ukraine where they had fled for cover, which are Romania, Hungary and Poland. NEMA had engaged the use of chartered flights from Nigeria for the evacuation.
“The expenses on the evacuation were on chartering of the flights, payment of $2 million was made to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Nigerian missions in the three countries to facilitate movement of the evacuees to the airports and their allowances. They were evacuated back home through Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
“On arrival, they were fed and each was given $100 each to facilitate their movement home. The expenses also included fuelling of vehicles, medical allowances for staff and stakeholders and media coverage.”