Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), faces allegations of approving the diversion of public funds from the Nigerian Content Development Fund’s US dollar account at the Central Bank of Nigeria into questionable contracts.
The amount of N7.7 billion ($4.7 million) was allegedly misappropriated without the necessary approval from authorised levels as stipulated in the relevant procurement protocols and policies, SaharaReporters has learned.
According to sources, the Executive Secretary endorsed three requests made by Fatima Bashir Mohammed, who purportedly leveraged her previous role at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in Nigeria (ICPC) to authorize payments to a consulting firm, S.B Capital Partners & Advisory Limited, owned by Stephen Bawa.
These payments significantly exceeded the approval limits, even for the Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB).
The sources stated that the approving authority for such amounts is the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
"Two of the three payments are US$3,062,089.52 and US$1,636,846.42, totalling US$4,698,935.94 (which amounts to N5,052,447,675.00 and N2,700,796,593.00 respectively, and totalling N7,753,244,301.00) at the average exchange rate of 1,650/US$1 prevailing at the time. None of the three split amounts falls within the payment threshold outside the FEC," one of the sources said.
According to the source, the most troubling aspect is that the payment was processed at the Central Bank of Nigeria without any evidence that the consultant had actually recovered the funds for which the fee was paid.
"How much did the consultant recover to earn such a fee?" the source asked.
The contract is reportedly connected to the recovery of funds that were deducted from the Nigerian Content Development Fund by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).
"The OAGF is a crucial office of the federal government under the Federal Ministry of Finance. The NCDMB is also a government-owned entity. Therefore, this is a government-to-government transaction that should not be subject to private consulting intervention," the source stated.
"The deduction was initiated by the federal government and requires direct communication with the relevant government officials or engagement at the highest level of both parties, rather than fleecing the public treasury of more than N7 billion under the guise of consulting," a source told SaharaReporters.
The source indicated that the three payments represent contract splitting, a practice forbidden by procurement rules and procedures.
Despite these infractions, the alleged individuals involved—Fatima Mohammed, the acting director of finance; Ifeanyi Ukoha; and Mubarak Zubair, the acting general manager of finance and accounts—who were all appointed by Felix Ogbe without government approval, went ahead with the payments.
"Regardless of these violations, the puppets — Fatima Mohammed, who originated the idea and wrote the memos, as well as the Acting Director of Finance, Ifeanyi Ukoha, and the Acting General Manager of Finance & Accounts, Mubaraq Zubair, who were all appointed by Felix Ogbe without the necessary government approval — proceeded to make the three payments," one of the sources said.
A document obtained by SaharaReporters, titled "Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board: Top Management Committee (TMC) Meeting" with reference number TMC-02/10/06/2024/01, shows the approval of thousands of dollars for sponsoring a five-day capacity training workshop for the Board's critical stakeholders in the financial sector, held in the United Kingdom.
The extract from the TMC Consideration of 10th June 2024, signed by Director, Legal Services, Naboth Onyesoh, partly reads: "TMC is requested to consider and approve the Board's sponsorship of a five-day capacity training workshop to be facilitated by Talent Expertise International in London, United Kingdom for the Board's critical stakeholders in the financial sector."
TMC considered and approved the following: "Engagement of Talent Expertise International to organize and execute the high-impact training programme for the identified critical stakeholders in London in October 2024 at a cost of USD$110,993.75 (N182,251,737.5 at N1642 per dollar) (inclusive of taxes).
"The sum of USD$5,950.00 (N9,769,900) be paid to each of the 15 critical stakeholders (amounting to (N146,548,500) while the sum of USD$2,000.00 (N3,284,000) be paid to the other 7 members of the Board management as course fees which will cover the course material, provisions for morning and midday snacks, lunch, and group excursion for team building.
"Payment of the sum of USD$106,960.00 (N175,628,320) as estacode to all participants and USD$17,780.00 (N29,194,760) to 5 members of the secretariat based on their applicable estacode rates for the duration of 5 training days plus 2 travel days.
"Payment of the sum of USD$30,000.00 (N49,260,000) being the logistics cost for the critical stakeholders," the document partly read.
In the meantime, SaharaReporters' attempts to contact Omatsola Ogbe were unsuccessful. He did not answer his calls or respond to a text message requesting his comments on the allegations at the time of filing this report.
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