By Jude Michael
The Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB) has reacted to allegations of fraud and being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over contract scams.
The Chairman of the board, Dr Vera Nwadinobi, who addressed a press conference in Awka, Anambra State capital, on Wednesday, said the rumours of some members of the board being invited by the anti-graft agency over a N6.7 billion fraud was aimed at distracting it.
There had been rumours of some of the members of the board being recently whisked away to Abuja over contract scams which involved awarding contracts to individuals who never bid for them.
The report further alleged that contracts in the board were being used to settle politicians who worked for top state government functionaries. But Nwadinobi who spoke to journalists, said there was nothing like fraud in the board.
‘I must state that this is false information. It is not true that contracts were awarded to contractors who did not bid for the jobs.
‘In line with the Public Procurement Act (PPA), we advertised for 2019, 2020 and 2021, and received over 1,000 bids for barely 200 jobs.
‘All the bids received underwent thorough technical evaluation and those that were found competent enough were recommended for the next stage of the procurement process which is financial bid opening.
‘The financial bid opening was also done publicly after which the most responsive bids were selected for award of contracts,’ she said.
The chairman regretted that certain people within the board, who, she said, had for a long time hijacked its procurement process, were unhappy that their stranglehold on the board had been dislodged.
She mentioned one of the former members of the board who had recently been transferred as arrogating positions to himself, including arbitrary award of contracts, before he was removed.
‘It is people like that that are trying to fight us by spreading fake and unverified information about us. The N6.7 billion they alleged was fraudulently embezzled is still in government coffers and include funding from the federal government and counterpart funding from the state. All are intact,’ Nwadinobi said.
