The Niger Delta Development Commission has denied awarding a contract for the sum of €56,250,000.
The agency said a letter circulating online to that effect purportedly emanating from the office of its Managing Director was fake.
The NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, Dr Ibitoye Abosede stated this in a statement issued on Wednesday evening in Port Harcourt.
The statement was titled: ‘Re: E56,250,000 Contract Award Notification.’
Abosede described the letter as the product of a cheap scam, saying it neither states the purpose of the contract nor the consideration for the award.
The statement reads, “The attention of the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission has been drawn to a fake contract award letter being circulated online, purporting to originate from the desk of the Managing Director of the Commission.
“The fake letter purportedly notified an Italian company of an award of a contract for €56,250,000. The fake letter neither states the purpose of the contract nor the consideration for the award.
“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.
“We have taken a close look at the document and wish to point out the following:
“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.
“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 handover of power on May 29, 2023.
“The fake letter failed all the Commission’s branding standards.”
The NDDC advised all stakeholders and interested parties to cross-check any purported letter of contract award with the Procurement Department of the Commission.