There was a mild stir on Thursday, 25th June, at the FCT High Court 33, Gwarinpa, presided over by Justice Mariam Hassan, when the EFCC 3rd prosecution witness, Dr. Maduka Onwusoro, told the court that the former labour and employment minister, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige did not bear any undue influence in the course of the Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB) or the Parastatal’s Tenders Board (PTB) of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) when their procurement was domicile in the Ministry of Labour for one year following the approval of the recommendation of the Presidential Joint Board Investigative Panel on the financial and procurement breaches at the NSITF in 2020..
The witness said he was the procurement director of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment from 2019 to 2023. The witness was led in his evidence by the EFCC lead prosecutor, Sylvanus Tahir SAN, and gave a picture of how the ministry adjusted to this presidential directive conveyed to him and the then permanent secretary by the minister.
Earlier yesterday, Wednesday, 24, June, the witness had described Ngige as an intelligent, innovative, and proactive minister. He said he had been director of procurement at the Niger Delta, Science and Technology, and many other federal ministries before his posting to the Labour Ministry. Continuing his testimony today, Thursday, 25th June, the witness told the court on cross-examination by Lead defence counsel P. I.N Ikwueto SAN, whether in the course of his performance of his duties at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, he had encumbrances or undue interferences from any quarters. He replied, “None at all.”
Asked specifically whether the Minister interfered, he again said ‘Not at all”. Reading from the past MTB minutes of meeting tendered by the prosecution he confirmed that all the companies coming for NSITF procurement passed through normal bidding process and that due process were followed before transmission to the Ministry and that they also double checked both the technical and financial evaluations at MTB before recommending and approving the award to the lowest bidder. 2 companies in the exhibit document Messrs Olde English Consolidated Ltd and Jeff & Xris ltd were in this list, and he affirmed that they passed through this due process mechanism like other companies before their awards. He affirmed that he did not know the 2 companies before then, but that the former minister did not influence anything about them or their bids, nor did the Board, as members were all directors and heads of units who are all independent-minded. Ministers are not members of MTB or PTB Permanent secretaries chair the MTB, according to the witness.
Earlier, the defence counsel had pointed out to this witness that he was a member of the Presidential Joint Board Investigative panel, which recommended the transfer of the NSITF procurement to the ministry for close oversight and total ‘overhaul ‘and redeployment of the staff of the NSITF procurement department and training of the new staff sourced within NSITF, working in synergy with the BPP.
He admitted he was a member of the panel and further stated that there were several procurement breaches, like the procurement of vehicles in place of toners, and also contract splitting, as raised by the OAuGF.
On further cross-examination on some other documents, the prosecution objected that the documents sought to be tendered especially the former president’s approval and directives to the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Ex Minister, were not frontloaded so that the prosecution could have foreknowledge to help them prepare answers to some knotty issues and questions.
The lead defence counsel, PIN Ikwueto SAN, agreed to the suggestion but informed the court that the defence was only able to get the certified true copy (CTC) of the documents only 48hrs ago from the relevant government departments and promised to front-load to the prosecution as soon as possible.
The judge thereafter adjourned the further hearing to Thursday, 2nd July 2026, to enable the defence and prosecution to exchange the required documents.
