The N434.5 million payment to contractors can be justified by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
This is according to a statement issued by the CCT’s Spokesperson, Atekojo Usman, on Thursday in Abuja.
Usman stated that the tribunal, which had sole authority to adjudicate on the conduct of public officers, had only its head office in Abuja and handled all public officers through the federation.
He stated that the task was overwhelming because there were cases pending for long periods of time, so the tribunal decided to open offices in each of the country’s six geopolitical zones.
He stated that it was on this basis that members of the CCT recommended the establishment of state offices in Calabar, Enugu, Kaduna, and Bauchi states, which eventually necessitated the construction of office facilities.
“In accordance with the public procurement act, the projects were competitively bid for after a call for expressions of interest, and bidders emerged through due process before contracts were awarded to winners.”
“It is worth noting that the bidding was conducted in the most transparent manner possible, with the participation of some civil society organizations and media coverage.”
“It is heartening to note that every document pertaining to the 2019 expenditure is available for record purposes, including payment vouchers,” Usman said.
According to him, the CCT is categorically stating that the N434.5 million is for 2018/2019 capital projects, and the projects are verifiable in Calabar, Enugu, Kaduna, and Bauchi because they have been completed and are now in use.
He maintained that the possibility of the CCT diverting funds for capital projects, as reported, was not only nefarious, but also a figment of some elements’ imagination.
He went on to say that the detractors’ main goal was to demolish the agency in order to continue their corruption against the country.
“The audit report, the latest in the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation’s (OAuGF) annual series, titled “Non-compliance/Internal Control Weakness Issues in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government for the year ended Dec. 31, 2019,” is not the most recent examination of CCT’s financial transactions.”
“The same auditors from the AuGF’s office conducted the 2020 exercise and discovered no financial irregularities in the agency,” he said.
According to a CCT spokesman, the tribunal paid contractors N434.5 million after the projects were completed satisfactorily.
He claimed that the CCT, led by Justice Danladi Umar, was currently implementing reforms that would place the tribunal first in discharging its adjudicative responsibilities.
Umar stated that the reforms had ensured that the provision of the 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the execution of virtual court proceedings and the automation of the court system was met.
He also stated that the CCT management had appeared before the Senate and House Public Accounts Committees on the basis of the audit report by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) and defended the capital expenditure for 2019.
Discussion about this post