The Director -General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Engr. Mustapha Maihaja has admitted that the agency did not comply with the provisions of the NEMA Establishment Act which mandates it to liaise with its state counterparts during the purchase and distribution of relief materials.

Speaking on Tuesday at the resumed sitting of the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness which is investigating breach of trust in NEMA, Maihaja said the exigency of the situation made the agency to make emergency procurements and distributions without recourse to the law.

Tuesday’s hearing was focused on the distribution of relief materials or lack of it, and the ₦8 billion Emergency Food Intervention Programmes in the North Eastern States of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe.

The committee also took testimonies from officials of the National Pensions Commission (PENCOM), National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on the status of the companies that were awarded the contracts for the implementation of the emergency food intervention programme.

The committee also unravelled a forged clearance certificate presented by one of the companies, Three Brothers Rice Mill Ltd when the representative of ITF at the hearing informed the lawmakers that the clearance certificate presented by the company was not issued from ITF as it bears a wrong address and signature. He also claimed that the certificate carries his name although it was not signed by him.

The committee consequently summoned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Ministry of Agriculture and all companies involved in the procurement of  emergency food in the North East to appear before it at the next hearing.

It also directed the NEMA DG to bring all communications, including minutes of all meetings relating to the bidding process and selection of all the companies that were awarded the procurement contracts.