The director general of the National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC) in Jos, Prof. Linus Asuquo, has denied allegations of fraudulent activities and misconduct in the Centre’s procurement process.
He stated this in response to the accusations of misappropriation, diversion of public funds, gross violation of public service rules, and questionable reappointments, by a group of 54 NMDC staff members known as the “Concerned Staff of the Centre”.
Prof. Asuquo maintained that the Centre had consistently adhered to due process in the award and execution of all contracts under his leadership.
He outlined that all procurement process followed established guidelines and regulations.
He said, “The first step in our procurement process is the procurement planning committee, followed by appropriation, and finally, advertisement. We never deviate from the mandatory requirement of advertising these projects.”
He further stated that there had not been a single instance where contracts were awarded without meticulous adherence to the prescribed procedures, thereby dismissing any claims of impropriety.
The director general expressed his commitment to transparent and accountable leadership at NMDC and urged for a thorough investigation to clear his name of the allegations brought against him.
“After that, we have tenders purchase, and tenders opening, and after that we have technical evaluation, by the technical committee.
“After the contracts are viewed by a board, the winners of the contracts are then awarded the contracts and there is no single time where I awarded any contract without following due process,” Asuquo maintained.
Also defending the allegation of awarding multiple contracts to a single contractor with different companies, Asuquo described the contractor as someone that ”is competent, who produces results, and he wins the contracts”.
According to him, the Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had checked, and confirmed that there was no funny business in the award of the contracts, so the contracts had to be given.
Reacting to the allegation that no single research was conducted in his five-year tenure, Asuquo said that research could not carried out because the centre was in disarray and all the equipment in the centre when he assumed offin the were down when he assumed office at NMDC.
“I brought in professionals to see how we could reactivate the equipment, and the report was that less than 20 per cent of the equipment were functional.
“So my efforts all this time were put into the reactivation of the equipment. So why would they accuse me now, when I am putting in efforts for real research to take place?
“If I were not interested in research, we wouldn’t have procured the scanning electron microscope, or the polishing machine. Things must be put in the right perspective before research commences.
“I applied to the World Bank, I pled my case and they inspected the centre, all this was done before the procurement of the electron microscope and the polishing machine.
“Very expensive state of the art machines, but the accessories have not been supplied, we have applied for those accessories to be supplied but it is a long process, which could take about 11 months,’’ he further explained.
The director general alleged that some of the people complaining about the lack of equipment were the ones sabotaging his efforts.
He claimed that while he was trying to fix the induction furnace, the saboteurs pilfered everything in the machines.
Asuquo claimed that most of the equipment he met were not functional, and now that he was trying to correct that, the staff were against their functionality.
The NMDC helmsman, who who was also accused of illegal reappointment of another tenure of five years after the expiration of his first tenure on July 12, said that there was nothing wrong with his reappointment.
But Asuquo said: ”My first appointment was announced on TV, but I have an official appointment from the presidency, from the chief of staff, to my minister, because of my credible performance.
“I had a meeting with the board and my reappointment was discussed, so I was accused of a fake process, because my reappointment was not announced on TV. If I was not doing well, the reappointment would not be possible”.
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