PMB; Two Minister Named In N2bn Bribery Scandal

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Chief Audu Ogbe and

 theMinister of State in the ministry, Senator
Heineken Lokpobiri, have been named in a
N2 billion bribery scandal.

the accused s

 This is coming in spite of the anti-corruption
posture of the President Mohammadu
Buhari-led Federal Government. 

A bribery scheme by the two ministers
concerning  a recent part-payment  of  N15
billion to contractors owed by the ministry.

The contractors executed projects under the
fertilizer subsidy programme, Growth
Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS),

 introduced by the administration of  former
President Goodluck Jonathan in order to
enhance farmers’ access to subsidised
fertilizer. The amount is part of a N56 billion debt
owed the contractors by the Federal  and

state governments participating in the
programme but the ministry is in charge of
payments to contractors.

 All participating states gave an Irrevocable
Standing Order (ISO) for their portion (25%)
of the Subsidy amount to be deducted
directly from their statutory monthly
allocation from the federation account as
due. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural
Development (FMARD), as the agency in
charge of the administration of the program
has the responsibility of coordinating,
managing and effecting the payment of the
subsidy to all participating inputs supplier companies.

 The Growth Enhancement Support Scheme
(GESS) is a Federal government initiative
aimed at subsidising the costs of major
agricultural inputs, such as fertilizer and
seedlings for farmers, yam tubers and yam
plantation, yam tubers and yam plantation

 based on the GESS policy, the federal and
state governments equally contribute the
balance of 50 percent being the approved
subsidy amount for onward payment to
participating inputs (fertilizer) suppliers.

 The Farm Inputs Suppliers Association of
Nigeria (FUISAN ), is the association that
made the programme successful.

 But following the release of N350 billion by
government for the payment of contractors
owed by government as contained in the
2016 budget, the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development was allocated funds
including N15 billion to effect the part- payment to

 over 50 contractors owed by the
ministry.

 Following the release of the money to the
ministry, the two ministers called a meeting
of all the contractors owed by the ministry in
Abuja. At the meeting, Chief Ogbeh
confirmed the release of some funds to the
ministry including N15 billion being part- payment

 for work done by the contractors,
most of which were carried out in 2014.

 newsday gathered that the contractors were assured that payment
would be made in such a way to cover all the
contractors owed by the ministry pending
the release of more funds by government.
The ministers assured the contractors that
they would be paid on “pro-rata” basis. 

 But to the chagrin of the contractors, the ministry
expended the N15 billion on only three
contractors, one of which was Notore
Chemicals PLC, a fertilizer and agro-allied
company linked to Chief James Ibori who is
currently serving jail time in U.K for corruption.

 Investigations showed that the payment was
a product of a decision to deduct N2 billion
from source and concentrate the payment
on only three contractors, who were part of
the deal. The three contractors were paid
N13 billion leaving in the lurch the rest of the

 contractors, who were earlier promised
payment on pro-rata basis.

 A group,

 Society for Good Governance (SGG),
is therefore asking the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Crimes
Commission (ICPC) to investigate the
payment.

 “We are, by this petition, asking the ICPC to
carry out a comprehensive investigation into
the payment to determine why the ministers
and the permanent secretary reneged on the
earlier arrangement to pay all the contractors
who have been owed for many years now and

 decided to pay only three contractors.

“We urge you to look into the deal between
the two ministers, the permanent secretary
and the three contractors that resulted in the
payment of N13 billion to them. What
happened to the remaining N2 billion.

Why renege on the payment of the other contractors?”,

 the group queried. A source familiar with the development

 said the decision to pay only three contractors a
whooping N15 billion was curious after the
minister had promised to expend the part-
payment on all the contractors involved.

 “The question on everybody’s lip is why pay
only three contractors after the agreement
that all the contractors would be captured .
These are people who collected bank loans
to execute these projects. The initial amount
borrowed has not been paid and they are not 

  even talking about the interest that has
gone out of the roof after many years”, the
source said