Andrew Agbese
17 September 2008
Jos — The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into award of contracts between1999 and 2007 in Plateau State was yesterday told that the former governor, Chief Joshua Dariye, ordered the release of N2.1 billion from the state's coffers for debt negotiation while there was no evidence of the debt negotiated.
The commission had through its counsel, wanted to establish the facts concerning certain amounts totaling N64.23bn which was said to have been siphoned by the former governor through an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) from the state's coffers.
The state's Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Calra Gang, who testified said she did not know anything about the ISPO and called on the former director of planning, research and statistics in the state's Ministry of Finance, Sani Alahji Yahya to respond to the charges.
Alhaji Yahya while testifying before the commission yesterday said he did not know anything about the document from which the allegations were made since he was not part of the administrative panel that produced it but declared that he was aware that a financial company known as Riverdale Financial Services Ltd signed an agreement with the state government on December, 2005 for debt negotiation.
He said by December 12, 2005, the company requested for the payment of a consultancy fee it had undertaken for the government and an approval was given by the former governor that an ISPO of N100m to be raised in favour of the company for a period of 21 months.
Alhaji Yahya said even as the deductions were made, he found out from one of the directors of Riverdale that only N560 million out of N2.1 billion got to the company.
The director further disclosed that Plateau was having an outstanding debt of $ 504 million, but that a letter from the Debt Management Office in the presidency had denied that Riverdale negotiated any debt reduction on behalf of the Plateau State government to deserve the commission it was paid.
Yahya added that the DMO had even written to the state Accountant General that Riverdale had never done anything to salvage the three foreign debts of the Paris Club, London Club and multi-lateral loans of the state as being claimed, not to talk of negotiating $111,886,515.70 out of the outstanding $180,462, 122.10 on behalf of the state government.
Chairman of the probe panel, Justice Morounkeji Onalaja, then directed that former accountant generals in the state who served between 1999 and 2007 be served notices to appear before the commission.
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