FRAUD STINKS IN RIVERS MINISTRY OF WORKS   …Commissioner stripped, handicapped

 

by Peter Henry Dee

 

The Commissioner for Transport in Rivers State, Mr OSIMA GINAH appears to be on a crossroad at the moment, following the alleged fraudulent activities perpetrated in his Ministry.

Sources close to government told BraveViews that the actions and inactions of the Transport Commissioner, OSIMA GINAH was responsible for the temporary suspension of the operations of the dispatch riders in the state.

Already, Governor NYESOM WIKE has stripped the Commissioner of some of his core duties,when he (Gov Wike) announced that registration of dispatch riders would be handled by his office directly.

Some pundits said it was a vote of no confidence passed indirectly on the Commissioner by the governor.

Recall that the Ministry of Transport had some time in 2021 held a stakeholders meeting in the transportation industry, where the Commissioner read out strategies and decision of the State Government to register them for proper identification, as such would enhance the security in the state.

According to the Commissioner, Mr. OSIMA GINAH, the registration, which also included the logistics companies, simply known as dispatch riders, would attract some monetary payments.

Credible sources told Brave Views that the large financial appetite inherent in the Commissioner and his cronies could not allow him follow due process in the registration and collection of money.

He had undermined the state Board of Internal Revenue and engaged the services of a consulting firm to handle the collection of money and registration but meddled into the process, thereby rendering the contractors useless.

Even the department of Land Transportation of the Ministry saddled with the obligation was not given a free hand to operate.

Some of the dispatch Riders who spoke with our correspondent, disclosed that thousands of them had already paid money to renew the operational permits issued to them by the Ministry while others, who are new had also registered.

What is striking, according to our investigations is the fact that, the payments they made was not done in the state or Ministry approved bank accounts.

The Transport Commissioner had chosen to collect the money paid by thousands of dispatch Riders by hand, an act even the local government councils in the state not longer do.

Our correspondent, who visited the Ministry discovered that only cronies appointed by the Commissioner, OSIMA GINAH at different desks and in different offices collected the money, running into several millions of naira.

It was this outdated nature of revenue collection and the inability of the Commissioner to account for the money collected so far that prompted the governor to suspend the operations of the Dispatch Riders until they do a new registration directly in his office, another source hinted.

In the meantime, the Commissioner for Transport, OSIMA GINAG has said he does not know how many permits the Ministry has so far registered or renewed.

He spoke on a phone interview with Brave Views in reaction to the ban or suspension of the Dispatch Riders, who had already registered or renewed and had already obtained their operational permits.

Next publication will provide you more details of our interview with

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