The Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, has been caught in the bind of grand sleaze following the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to all the ministries, agencies, parastatals and the like to close their various accounts nationwide and revert to Treasury Single Account, TSA. The Presidential order which unsettled virtually all the agencies frightened the CAC into scampering for cover up in its dubious and underhand dealings in the past.
Inside sources disclosed to FREEPRESS that CAC top management officials disobeyed the presidential order which stipulates that all monies in various accounts of the companies regulating agency should be mopped up and turned into the designated Treasury Single Account. Countless agencies and federal ministries have since been patronising the TSA created by the new government which sources say has seen the federal government earning over N2.8 trillion.
The cat was let out of the bag when the agency, instead of obeying the directive of the federal government, swiftly awarded contracts arbitrarily to phoney companies without advertisement or job orders so as to prevent the linkage of fraud in the system. The inside source says "it was a clear case of contract splitting as contracts of similar description were separately awarded".
It is instructive to note that Chief Bode George was jailed in similar circumstances along with five of his other collaborators by the Lagos High Court under Justice Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole concerning his tenure as the chairperson of the board of the Nigerian Port Authority, NPA, between 2001 and 2003 on account of contract splitting, inflation, abuse of office and disobedience to lawful order in 2009.
In CAC offices in many parts of the country, contractors were paid before the actual execution of the contracts to enable them meet up with the September 15th deadline for compliance with the TSA. As at September 14th the Director of Procurement, Mr Badamasi Yau was still signing and backdating contracts and referring to none-existent earlier contracts award. When contacted, Mr Yau denied knowledge of the allegations of burning the agency's documents, contract splitting, inflation, abuse of office and disobedience to the TSA lawful order.
Responding to our enquiries Mr Yau said, "I have forwarded this text to my Chief Executive, honestly speaking I am not aware of burning any documents in my office. If at all there is any please contact my CEO. I assured you my procurement records are intact since I took over in 2010. They are subject to inspection if you so wish", he said. When reminded of ducking major points of the enquiries of contract splitting and other allegations, Mr Yau simply quipped: "I did say in response that my procurement documents are intact, the allegations for contract splitting is not true. I am also confidently saying this to you that except the statutory 15% mobilisation (where applicable) there has never anytime/anywhere a contract is paid before execution. The records are very clear and available anytime you want.
The alleged burning of official documents in the CAC archives is said to blunt the possibility of tracing any link to the manipulation, barefaced corruption that have been taking place under the agency's leadership. There were signs of foreboding and resentment by the members of staff at the old Headquarters of the CAC when FREEPRESS visited the office at Wuse Zone 5, Abuja where the documents of the agency were allegedly burnt. Similar checks in various ministries and parastatal across the country revealed that the new policy directive of the government greatly rattled top officials whose records were everything but clean.
The source within the agency who have axe to grind with the Registrar-General, Mr. Mahmud Bello for his refusal to pay their promotion arrears of 2013 amounting to N300 million (which have been paid early this month) said the management of CAC deliberately created drainpipes, including monthly payment of salaries to ghost workers, among who are directors in many part of the country.
"The ugliest part of the 2013 promotion arrears crisis was that there was no budget for it, hence the just retired Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Investment refused to approve the payment. The question is where did they get the money with which the payment was made", he quarried.
The aggrieved members of staff are particularly irked by the example of the disappearance of one Mr. Olusegun Ajakaye who have never been to work nor sighted by any members of staff over the last two years, yet has his name on the payroll as a director.
The agency, before President Buhari mounted the saddle, maintained a modest cost of training a member of staff for four days with N50,000 each. At the moment, the amount of training each staff has been increased astronomically to the sum of N150,000 per person, after much padding. Surprisingly and speedily, over one thousand member of staff have been trained in the space of few months since President Buhari assumed power. This patronising sense of "capacity building and patriotism" on the part of the agency's management, if anything, comes with a hiding agenda.
The source who did not want his name in prints said they are prepared to expose the monumental corrupt practices in the CAC but are afraid of victimisation because of the oath of secrecy they have to abide by. "In line with the new federal government policy on anti -corruption, the presidency and the anti corruption agencies are by this medium invited to beam their search light on the commission without further delay, especially the payments made before complying with the newly instituted Treasury Single Acoount, TSA, he said".
Calls put across to Mr Mahmud Bello were not responded to as he merely responded to text message with invasive answer, "come to the office." At the moment, there is palpable unrest and fear of victimisation at the CAC head office on plot 420, Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja; where the suspecting Mr Mahmud Bello, the Registrar-General is hunting for the dissidents in the agency after failing to respond to inquisitions concerning the alleged sleaze of the agency under his watch.
Freepress
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