Lai Muhammad
Minister
of Information Lai Mohammed is battling a “corrupt cabal” at the
National Broadcasting Commission(NBC), it emerged yesterday.
It was also learnt that the same cartel
is being backed by some external forces, including contractors who have
been used to inflated projects in NBC.
Mohammed has been the butt of smear
campaign over a request for a loan of N13.1million from NBC for a
five-man official delegation to China.
In spite of the fact that the trip was
officially approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, a deputy director,
who is a member of the cabal, allegedly snapped the memo and leaked it
to the media.
It was gathered that the said deputy
director was one of the corrupt members of the cabal in the system who
could not come to terms with Mohammed’s reforms.
According to investigation by our
correspondent, Mohammed has been targeted by the cabal for allegedly
stopping “curious requests of more than N200million.
Some of the issues in NBC which had made Mohammed the target of the cabal include:
- The uncovering of duplication of payment vouchers of about N109million
- Non-approval of N66million for accommodation at a hotel in Lagos for a Commonwealth meeting
- Inflated invoice for the purchase of diesel at N195 per litre instead of N125 per litre
- Stoppage of business class travels for all directors and top officials
* Putting the names of those who have left NBC on payment schedule for some huge allowances
A top source, who spoke in confidence,
said: “Since the Minister came on board, he has been fighting a
corruption cabal in NBC and some of the 19 parastatals under his
ministry.
“So, the leakage of the loan memo to NBC
was a case of corruption fighting back.I think the Minister and his
team are also underestimating the danger of what they are doing.
“The change they are bringing to the ministry and NBC, the workers are not used to it and they are resisting it.
“For instance, upon assumption of
office, a director came went to the Minister and asked for approval for
payment for SURE-P projects worth about N100m. The director even listed
what the Minister and the Permanent Secretary will benefit.
“But the Minister instead told the director and other officials, ‘If you don’t want to go to jail, go and do the projects.’
“The leakage of memo might be a minor thing but a symptom of a deeper disease.
“There has been a culture of impunity in the parastatals which the Minister has been opposing.”
Responding to a question, the source
said the minister incurred the wrath of the corrupt elements in NBC
because he rejected some curious requests for payment of some funds.
The source added: “Members of the
corruption cabal in NBC hide under the guise of unnecessary travels to
make money from the system. The Minister has been receiving requests for
frequent travels, mostly in business class He has wielded the big stick
by reducing these travels and after consultations with the Head of
Service asked the NBC officials to use Economy class.
“Some NBC officials have vowed to deal
with the Minister for taking such a drastic action. Yet this was just a
tip of the iceberg.
“For instance, there was a day some
payment vouchers of about N84million were presented to the minister for
approval. Later in the afternoon of the same day, another voucher which
included already approved items in the N84million was forwarded again
which the Minister rejected. The strange voucher was in respect of a
seminar in Akwa Ibom.
“In another instance a payment schedule
was brought to the Minister for approval and the names of three key
officers who have left the commission were included.When the Minister
raised an observation, the commission apologized that the names were
mistakenly not removed from the list.
” The NBC was supposed to host a
Commonwealth meeting and an estimate of N41m but N25m alone was voted
for accommodation in Eko Hotel and Suites. This was pruned down. Yet
another voucher of N25million was again separately smuggled for
accommodation again in the same Eko Hotel and Suites.
“The case of purchase of diesel for NBC
is another corruption means. While diesel was bring sold at N125 per
litre, the agency quoted N195 per litre. The Minister queried it and the
cabal went haywire.
“Contrary to insinuations, when the
pressure for request for diesel was much, there was a day the Minister
asked his aides to bring relevant file to Kaduna for him to sign to
enable NBC buy at the approved rate.”
Another source said Mohammed also had it rough with NBC officials on the launch of Digital Set-Top -Boxes in Jos.
The source said: “These corrupt elements
did not want the launch of the digitization to hold at all in Jos. A
bill of about N100million was brought for publicity of the launch and it
was turned down by the Minister. Then sabotage set in.
“There were 200,000 boxes available for
distribution but when the Minister asked NBC how far it had gone, it
said only 300 people have responded.
“The Minister then decided that best way
to get things done was to give people free of charge. The Ministry
engaged 500 young men for one month and paid them N15,000 each to market
the set top boxes. The Ministry was able to distribute over 50,000
boxes before the launch date.
“One thing is sure, this fight is going
to be dirty. What they will do is to try to frustrate the Minister And
they are doing it in connivance with outsiders, especially some
contractors who have been getting jobs without doing them.”
On the N13.1million budgeted for a trip
to China, the source said: “The President approved the trip but there
was no funds. The approval was passed to the Permanent Secretary and her
team. They said the ministry had no money but it can borrow from some
parastatals.
“On their own, the civil servants
recommended NTA, FRCN and NBC. They later settled for NBC for the loan
pending when budgetary allocation will be accessed.
“Those raising dust are making it to look as if the Minister will be spending the N13.1million alone.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment