Minister Onu denies N11m alleged fraud

The Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, has faulted an N11 million alleged fraud leveled against him by staff of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN).

ECN workers, had last week alleged that the commission’s leadership made an “irregular” payment of N11 million into Onu’s account.

The chairman of ECN staff union, Promise Chukwu, had alleged that the management of the agency made the payment through the project account of ECN into the minister’s account.

The workers had accused the director general of the commission, E.J Bala, of describing the commission as a research institute, which was at variance with the mandate of ECN, which is strategic planning and coordination of policies on energy and demanded that he be removed.

But reacting on the allegation through a statement released by the spokesman of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Abdul Ganiyu Aminu, said that the money was not in favour of Onu. He described the allegation that the payment was “irregular” as “baseless and untrue”.

Aminu said “No money was ever raised in favour of the Honourable Minister (Onu),” explaining that the money was to take care of the travelling expenses of the minister and other officials to the last Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which took place at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate in January 2017.

He said, “The delegates to the Assembly, who were accredited by the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, comprised of officials from both the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) and the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN).

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“Nigeria’s delegation comprised, among others, the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, the Director-General of the Energy Commission as well as the Director/Technical Adviser to the DG. The Honourable Minister is expected to serve as Head of Delegation.

“During the 2017 Assembly, the Honourable Minister was able to secure for Nigeria the position of Vice-President of the Assembly up to 2018. The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the Agency.”

IRENA is an inter-governmental group that was set up in 2009 and has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It has over 180 membership countries with objectives as to promote the widespread and increased adoption and the use of all forms of renewable energy.

 

 

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