The House of Representatives has asked Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to publish, within 48 hours, members of the 9th National Assembly who got sixty percent of contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Ruling on a matter of privileges brought by Minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said the Minister, who alleged 60 percent of contracts from the NDDC were given to members of the National Assembly, should publish the benefiting lawmakers, especially members of the 9th Assembly within 48 hours.
He further said the names of their companies and the contracts they got should be published within 48 hours or Akpabio would face the wrath of the House. He said:
“I take these accusations very seriously & I would give the Minister 48 hours to publish the names, contracts, and dates and details members of National Assembly that they gave contracts to National Assembly members to, failing which the full wrath of the law will be applied,” he said.
Although he said his initial reaction was to have a good laugh when the Minister made the allegations, he realised it infringes on the integrity of the House.
He said the Minister owes it a duty to himself, the House Committee on Niger Delta, the people of Niger Delta and Nigerians to publish the names of lawmakers who got contracts from the NDDC.
During a testy appearance before the House Committee on NDDC on Monday, Senator Akpabio claimed that the lawmakers were “the greatest beneficiaries” of NDDC contracts.
Asked how the lawmakers benefitted, he said, “I just told you that we have records to show that most of the contracts in the NDDC are given out to members of the National Assembly”
The Speaker in his remarks said ”the not reasonable thing to do was to err in the path of caution concerning the health situation of the Managing Director whether the slump was fake or not however the committee has the right to re-invite the Managing Director if need be”