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NEMA DG, Maihaja in contracts scam
Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Engineer Mustapha Yinusa Maihaja, has been implicated in contracts scam running into several billions of Naira.
Maihaja, according to the House of Representatives committee on violation of public trust, has been breaching Public Procurement Act by awarding contracts to companies that do not meet legal requirements and non-existing companies.
The lawmakers noted that documents before the committee which were made available to the director general in the hearing, clearly showed that majority of the companies approved by the agency to undergo contracts were in breach of the Procurement Act to the extent that one of the companies, Three Brothers, is not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
They also discovered from documents presented to the committee by the National Pension Commission that most of the companies were defaulters in remittance of pension, defaulters in tax payment as submitted by the Federal Inland Revenue Service to the committee, and do not operate ITF.
He was also said to have been exceeding his approval limit for contracts without due approval by the presidency.
At the resumed investigative public hearing on Wednesday, the DG presented a Certificate of No Objection obtained from the Bureau Of Public Procurement (BPP) as proof that all due process procedures were followed before the contracts were awarded.
This, however, was rejected by members of the Committee who explained that there are documents that clearly show the breaches in question whose authenticity have not been contested, and therefore, the BPP must have cleared the contracts in error.
The lawmakers also expressed reservation over the exemption of the director general in the suspension of personnel of the agency over allegations of corruption.
They said it was puzzling that the director general, who was also listed among the list of people allegedly involved in corrupt activities and defrauding Nigerians, has been allowed to continue superintending over the affairs of the agency.
The committee noted that due to the absence of the suspended personnel, especially the director of Finance and accounts, certain information required by the House will not be available, and therefore, the DG must appear with them on Thursday.
