Consultant Sues House Of Reps For Not Paying Him After He Drafted 50 Questions For Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala The dust raised by the House of Representatives over the 50 questions posed to the Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is yet to be settled as an economic expert, Mr. Odilim Basil Enwegbara, has sued the Lower House for refusing to pay him his N115 million consultancy fee for service rendered to the House in December 2013. In the suit no. CV/890/14 instituted at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on December 23, 2014, Enwegbara demanded that the House of Representatives pay him his N115 million consultancy fee for producing the “controversial” 50 questions, which the House Committee on Okonjo-Iweala on December 19, 2013 as well as for producing for the House Committee the follow-up questions in reaction to the Minister’s response. According to Enwegbara, the Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on December 18, 2013 hired him to produce 50 questions on the “State of the Economy,” which the House of Representatives would like to pose to the Minister of Finance. “It was on the basis of an agreement by both parties that he should be paid N100 million only for producing the 50 questions as his consultancy fee that he went ahead to do the work.” Upon the Chairman’s discovery that the 50 questions produced were beyond the committee members’ comprehension, coupled with the fear that they would have difficulty taking the Minister on those 50 questions in a public hearing, the Chairman informed Enwegbara that to be on the safe side, his committee would be handing the Minister the questions to respond in writing. Whence the Minister of Finance eventually responded to the 50 questions in writing, the Chairman immediately reverted to Enwegbara to react fully to the Minister’s response since, according to him, the Minister’s response was also beyond the committee members’ comprehension. To produce such detailed reaction to the Minister’s response to the 50 questions, which the committee would use in organising a public hearing, a fee of N15 million only was agreed by both parties for Enwegbara’s work. To personally guide members at the said hearing, the Chairman, without any prior agreement with Enwegbara, went ahead to publish Enwegbara’s name in newspapers along with other names as resource persons to be present at the committee’s planned public hearing on March 3, 2013. With the said hearing abruptly put off, the House Committee Chairman on Finance severed communication with Enwegbara, the complainant said, pointing out that notwithstanding frustrations encountered by him, Enwegbara continued to abide by the agreement with the Chairman, which included that both parties should never make public Enwegbara’s authorship of both the 50 questions and the follow-up questions. “After several attempts to secure payment for his Consultancy Fee failed, Enwegbara had no option but to engage the services of lawyers, who immediately wrote the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, and demanded immediate payment of his consultancy fees. Consequently, the House of Representatives’ lawyer, Mr Femi Falana intervened, seeking an amicable settlement. Unfortunately, the settlement efforts dragged on for months without any positive outcome to date. Given the nonchalance exhibited and the colossal abuse of office by both the Speaker and the Committee Chairman all these months, Enwegbara finally decided it is time to seek a redress in the Court of law; hence this lawsuit” Enwegbara, said in a statement.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 14:09:34 +0000
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