$35m NCDMB Project: No Evidence Funds Were Properly Utilized, Witness Tells Court.
The trial of Akindele Akintoye, Platforms Capital Investment Partners Limited, and Duport Midstream Company Limited over allegations of dishonesty and mismanagement of a $35 million Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) project continued on Tuesday before Justice Ekerete Akpan of the Federal High Court, Abuja. Isaac Yalah, the fourth prosecution witness and former Director of Finance, Personnel, and Planning at NCDMB, told the court that there was no report submitted by the defendants confirming that milestones one and two of the project had been executed. He explained that the project account was opened in the name of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited with Zenith Bank. Yalah said the first tranche of $21.55 million, covering milestones one and two, was paid into the operational account in December 2020, while the remaining $13.45 million, for milestones three to six, was transferred on January 29, 2021, following verbal instructions from the then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources. When questioned on accountability, the witness said there was no official report to NCDMB detailing the utilization of the first tranche of funds. He added that while the company presented some evidence of work done at board meetings, the project was expected to be completed within four months, a target that has not been met. “The project currently stands abandoned. I am not aware of any requests for variation in project costs or reports forwarded to NCDMB regarding work on the remaining milestones,” Yalah said. He noted that he was not a signatory to the operational account but only to the project account. The court has adjourned the matter to December 3, 2025, for the cross-examination of the witness.
| 2025-12-03 06:26:04