We did not issue E56.2m contract award letter to Italian firm – NDDC

By Clement Udoh –

The management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has denied issuing any letter of award of a contract for 56,250,000 Euros to an Italian company.

The Commission made the denial while reacting to what it referred to as “a fake contract award letter being circulated online, purporting to originate from the desk of the Managing Director of the Commission.”

According to a statement by NDDC’s Director, Corporate Affairs, Ibitoye Abosede, the fake letter purportedly notified of an Italian company of an award of a contract for 56,250,000 Euros.

“The fake letter neither states the purpose of the contract nor the consideration for the award. . The fake letter neither states the purpose of the contract nor the consideration for the award,” the statement noted.

“We hereby state unequivocally that the document is fake. The purported contract is also a scam. It does not exist either in the records of the Commission nor is any of our officials aware of it,” the Commission stated.

Abosede explained that the Commission had taken a close look at the document and wished to point out the following:

1. Contract awards in NDDC follow due process stipulated by the Procurement Act. At the end of that process, the successful bidder is issued an award letter signed by the Director of Procurement. That award letter is on a security paper, with a serial number and a QR code. Contract award letters do not come from the desk of the managing director. 

2. The fake letter dated June 1, 2023, was purportedly signed by the managing director and the minister of Niger Delta Affairs. The managing director signed no such letter. In any case, the signature on the fake document is not that of our managing director. Also, Nigeria had no Minister of Niger Delta Affairs by June 1, 2023 as the Federal Executive Council was dissolved before the hand-over of power on May 29, 2023.

3. The fake letter failed all the Commission’s branding standards.

“Our take is that the letter is a product of a cheap scam. It has no relationship whatsoever with the Commission. We hereby advise all stakeholders and interested parties to cross check any purported letter of contract award with the Procurement Department of the Commission. We also warn the public to beware of fraudsters who will stop at nothing to dupe others,” the Commission maintained.

It added that the NDDC had already reported the scam to the law enforcement agencies “so that the culprits can be brought to book.”