House of reps panel economical with the truth, says NEMA

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has countered
the claims of violation of public trust against it by the house Of
representatives committee on emergency and disaster
preparedness.

The committee had accused the agency of abuse of public fund and
also indicted Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo of illegally approving
over N5 billion for NEMA.

The lawmakers also recommended the dismissal of Mustapha Maijaha
(pictured), director-general of NEMA.

But in a statement signed by Sani Datti, its spokesman, NEMA
said the findings by the committee did not reflect facts placed
before it.

NEMA said the committee was only economical with the truth.

Below is the statement:

The house of representatives at its plenary on 8th
November, 2018, received the report of the house committee on
emergency and disaster preparedness on the alleged violation of
public trust against the National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA).

The Agency was astonished to hear some of the findings and
conclusions presented by the Committee on the issues, which did not
reflect the facts and documents placed before it by NEMA.

While the Agency will in due course make a more
comprehensive response to all the allegation made, it is
therefore most important to make the following
clarification:

Port Clearance and Transportation of Emergency Food
Assistance by Chinese Government; the Federal Government received a
total of 6,779MT of Rice for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in
the North East as donation by the Chinese Government. This
amounted to 271 containers, which arrived Apapa Ports between June
and October 2017.

The correct total value of the rice is N2.25 Billion (50.5
Million Chinese Yuan) and the amount spent on demurrage and storage
was about N450 Million, not N800 Million as alleged by the
Committee. The processes of obtaining duty exemption, waivers and
other related issues took several months, but the total quantity
was subsequently cleared from the Apapa Port, transported and
delivered to NEMA warehouses in the North East. It was thereafter
distributed to the IDPs, though some quantities are still available
in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe States.
Relevant documents on the transaction were made available to the
Committee during the public hearing.

The suspension of six (6) NEMA officers: This was a decision
of the Governing Council of NEMA based on an Interim Report by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which indicted
them for financial misappropriation. This suspension was in line
with extant Guidelines on Appointment, Promotion and
Discipline as contained in the Public Service Rules.

The approval of the sum of N1.6 billion granted by the
Federal Government for the Procurement and Delivery of Relief Items
to 16 States affected by Flood in 2017, due process was followed in
the procurement of the relief items and all items meant for the 16
states were received and acknowledged by respective State
Governments. Relevant documents were made available to the House
Committee.

The Federal Government Emergency Food Intervention in the
North East(EFINE), EFINE was a project
implemented by a Presidential Committee comprising of relevant
Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs)
in response to the threat of hunger and starvation in the North
East as reported by the agencies of Government on the ground, which
was corroborated by the United Nations World Food Programme in
April 2017. All approvals were sought in accordance with due
process, while the Committee and the UN World Food Programme worked
collaboratively in the sourcing and distribution of the food items.
The originating memorandum on the project was submitted by NEMA on
2 June 2017 for Presidential approval. The National Security (Food)
was threatened, emergency response became inevitable and
therefore all suppliers in EFINE were appropriately
selected. Copies of relevant documents in respect of the project
were made available to the House Committee.

The evacuation of Nigerians from Libya: The evacuation of
stranded Nigerians from Libya was a multi-agency operation, which
was undertaken jointly with all relevant stakeholders: Ministry of
Foreign Auairs, Ministry of Interior, Federal Ministry of
Health, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force, National
Intelligence Agency, Department of State Security, NAPTIP, National
Commission for Ref- ugees, relevant State Governments,
etc. Two Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty (2,130) Nigerians were
evacuated in the operation. The operation was highly successful
with prudent fund management after which money was returned to
the couers of Government.

The over N10 billion ecological fund: Submission was made to
the committee with expenditure of N3.799 billion from
January, 2017 to February, 2018. The sum of N1.96
billion was spent between January- April, 2017 (about 4
months) before the assumption of the present Director General,
whereas the sum of 1.83 billion was expended between April,
2017 and February, 2018 (10 months) by the present
management. The balance of N6.52 billion was in the Agency’s TSA
Account with the CBN was adequately communicated to the committee
in our submission.

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