By Uche Onyeali
As the allegations against the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, on the spending of funds to the tune of N7.7 billion ($4.7 million) without the necessary approval as stipulated in the relevant procurement protocols and policies continue to gather momentum, the claim seems not to be far from the truth.
It would be recalled that a leading online news medium had on Wednesday, February 12, reported that the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr Felix Ogbe, is facing allegations of diversion of public funds from the Nigerian Content Development Fund’s US dollar account at the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, into questionable contracts.
In the publication titled ‘Nigerian Content Board’ sBoss, Ogbe Spends N7Billion On Consultancy, Over N580Million On 5-Day London Training, Logistics, Allowance,’ alleged that N7.7 billion ($4.7 million) was expended by the board without following the due process for approval.
According to the report, he endorsed three requests made by Fatima Mohammed, who purportedly leveraged her previous role at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in Nigeria, ICPC, to authorise payments to a consulting firm, S.B Capital Partners & Advisory Limited, owned by Stephen Bawa.
It added that these payments significantly exceeded the approval limits, even for the Ministerial Tenders Board, MTB.
In a swift reaction, NCDMB issued a rebuttal on Thursday February 13, describing the publication and the allegations therein as false, malicious and misleading.
“The publication is riddled with falsehoods, gross inaccuracies and baseless inferences. We wish to state that neither the Board nor the executive secretary spent the amount stated in the headline of the referenced statement.”
However, a reliable source, confirmed that the publication and the allegations therein are true, noting that the payment of N7.7 billion ($4.7 million) for consultancy was made in 2024 through the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The documents made available by the source revealed three letters from NCDMB mandating Nigeria’s apex bank to pay the said amount for contracts for consultancy in respect to financial services for recovery.
The letters addressed to the director, Banking Service Department, Central Bank of Nigeria were titled ‘Payment Mandate in Respect of Financial Consultancy Services for the Recovery of NCDF One Percent Deducted by OAGF from Our Domiciliary Account #3000135904.’
The first two letters for payment of
US$ 3,062,089.52 and US$ 1,531,044.75, 23, were dated 22nd July, 2024 and received by CBN on 23 July 2024, while the third letter dated August 27, 2024 and received on August 28, 2024, had US$ 1,636,846.42.
The source stated that the report did not get the correct figures, saying the actually figure is over $6.5 million amounting to over N10 billion.
The source noted that the approval for such amounts is not within the ambit of the Board’s executive zecretary, but the Federal Executive Council, FEC.
