By Ezrel Tabiowo Abuja
Th e Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Humanitarian Crisis in the Northeast has summoned the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, to appear before it today over a his involvement in a contract fraud. Babachir, who is to appear before the Committee at 10am today, prior to his suspension on last Wednesday, had been in the centre of a corruption allegation involving the award of contract to companies owned by him while serving on the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE).
Th e Senate Ad Hoc committee on Humanitarian Crisis in the North East, while investigating the activities of PINE in the region following the escalating humanitarian crisis, stumbled across hard evidence which revealed gross abuse of privileges. Th e Senator Shehu Sani-led committee, in its report which was considered by the upper chamber on December 14, 2016, indicted the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Sani, while presenting an interim report to the upper chamber, accused the SGF of using his offi ce to enrich himself, and called for his prosecution for allegedly violating the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and the Federal Government Financial Rules and Regulations pertaining to the award of contracts. He said the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE) took undue advantage of the provision of emergency situation contract award in the Public Procurement Act, 2007, to infl ate contracts.
