Nigeria parliament indicts top bureaucrat on IDPs

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigeria's senate on Wednesday called for immediate resignation and prosecution of the secretary to national government Babachir Lawal over allegations that government contracts were unlawfully awarded to a firm owned by him.

The Senate said an inflated contract to clear ‘invasive weed’ in displaced persons’ camps was in March 2016 awarded to Global Vision Ltd, a firm owned by and whose account Lawal is signatory to.

The lawmakers said Lawal was a director at the firm until his resignation in September this year, implying that he had awarded contracts to his own firm as a government official.

Lawal’s office is to a large extent in charge of the contract award. The contract was by the presidential initiative for the North-East, established to cater to the needs of people affected by the Boko Haram violence.

The action is contrary to the country's law governing conduct of public officials. Under the Nigerian law, government officials cannot engage in private business.

“Global Vision was incorporated in 1990 to carry out ICT services; but it received contract to clear grass in 2016 even while the owner is senior government official,” according to an interim report of a parliamentary committee probing the welfare of persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.

The lawmakers also said the contracts awarded did not follow due process.

The Senate, commenting on an interim report of a committee investigating the plight of the IDPs, also said government's handling of IDPs welfare falls short of expectations as over 5m people face starvation in spite of government committing $417m to the IDPs' welfare.