The Federal Character Commission (FCC) says the money spent for the construction of a fence and gate house at its proposed training school in Katsina State followed all due process.
In a statement signed by Abdullahi Adamu Idris in Abuja on Thursday, he countered the widely circulated reports in some news outlets that the sum of N56,080,593.00 (Fifty-six million, eighty thousand, five hundred and ninety-three naira and fifty kobo) was to construct the fence of the proposed training school in Katsina around 2016.
The FCC said the report was a fallout of the audit report, which the Commission had since responded and cleared by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation sometime in 2018.
Part of the statement read: “In response to that Audit observation which was alleged in 2018 at the Public hearing of the House of Representatives, Public Account Committee, the Commission had explained that it fully complied with all the processes regarding the award of the contract.
“It was explained then, that, it was the practice of the Commission to attach photocopies of letter of award and contract agreement to payment vouchers while the original copies are kept in the Contractors file to prevent loss of originals.
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“This original file is in the Commission and the reporters did not deem it necessary to find out this claim from the Commission either by physical request or relying on the FOI Act.
“In 2016 the contractor in questions Messrs. Green Bock Company Ltd actually did not apply for a bank guarantee, rather it went to site and completed the work in full before it turned in its paper for payment which the Commission fully obliged."
The Commission further maintained that there are records of transactions with regard to the contract and its doors are opened to scrutiny.
Dismissing the media report, the statement described the report as half-truth and did not comply with the journalistic requirement of proper investigation.
